Turning Points IV - INVASION
by Ulrich
Summary: set after 3I * Shinji/Rei fic *
1. Trailer

Neon Genesis Evangelion - FanFiction  
  
  
Turning Points IV : INVASION  
  
  
by Ulrich-Alexander Schmidt  
  
Version: 15.05.2001  
  
  
  
  
Legal Boilerplate:  
NGE and the Characters are the property of GAINAX, etc.pp., I do not own them.  
  
All mistake made within this FF are mine alone.  
  
This FF begins, where Episode 26 ended...  
  
  
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Prolog - End of EVANGELION:  
  
"Death or rebirth..." the white glowing figure that hovered in front of him asked.  
  
Shinji Ikari could only stare at the being with the face and the body of Rei Ayanami,  
but with blue angellike wings.  
"Why me?" he whispered.  
  
"Chose, Shinji, death or rebirth?"  
  
"I..."  
He hesitated. A year ago he wouldn´t have cared if he lived or died but than his  
existance had gained a sense, even if he hated it.  
He had met others who were like him, alone...  
  
Now he had resisted merging his soul with the souls of humanity, had denied the Third  
Impact.  
And now the being that he knew to love him offered him a new chance...  
  
There were things tempting him to chose death... he had killed, with his own hands,   
with the hands of EVA-01...  
  
Kaworu... he had been his friend... and he had killed him...  
  
And he had lost those dear to him...  
  
Rei... the Rei he first had met, the Rei who had died within the explosion of EVA-00...  
  
Misato... shot down while rescuing him...  
  
Asuka... ripped apart by the EVAs of series five...  
  
Kaji...  
  
He was able to bring them back...  
  
"Rebirth...!"  
  
She nodded.  
"So it will be..."  
Rei-Lilith turned around, walked away into the void.  
  
She had sacrificed everything to ensure his happyness... her purpose... her life...  
  
"Rei..."  
  
She looked back over her shoulder.  
  
"I will find you... and if it takes eternity... we will meet again..."  
  
  
And so it begins...  
  
  
  
  
  
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********************************** I N V A S I O N ************************************  
  
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About 25 years ago:  
  
  
He was the Warlord of the 13. swarm...  
  
He was the Armsmaster of the Empress, Commander of the Imperial Guard...  
  
He was Angeloi...  
  
His name was Tabris...  
  
  
He knelt before the throne of Imperatrix Lilith within the throne chamber, his gaze   
lowered, not daring to look into the face of his Empress... and mother...  
Next to him laid his Khadja-blade, the traditional weapon of the Armsmaster.  
He could the stone-hard floor even through his bodyarmor.  
  
"Rise, First Born."  
The Empress´ voice was like the whisper of the wind and the thunder of the storm, he  
was unable to resist. And if she had ordered him to fall into his own blade he would  
have done so without hesitation.  
  
He got up with the due respect, slowly raising his gaze.  
Next to the amberthron of the Imperatrix stood his sister, Sel, queen of the 13.   
swarm, second born of the Imperatrix and just a few minutes older than he. While he  
was the Imperatrix´ first born son, his twinsister was the second child.  
But it was hard to believe them siblings, too great were the differences.  
While he was an albino with pale skin, grey hair and eyes, she was clearly showing  
the human heritage of their race. Her hair was of a golden blonde, her eyes were black  
and gold.  
The bald-headed Imperatrix herself resembled her daughter in not being an albino like   
most of her children.  
  
Noone else was within the trone chamber, neither guardsmen nor servants.  
  
"I´ve listen to your suggestion and decided. You have my blessings."  
  
For a moment he kept him breath while thinking about her words.  
Freedom and hope for our people...  
  
"The discovery of the position of the world of origin made this decision necessary.  
We, the Angeloi, banished from heaven, were at a crossroad. The devellopment of the  
artificial LCL freed us generations ago from the thirst for other being´s lifeforces.  
Alas, the legends of the world of origin are still told, the legends about the   
strenght of the lilims´ blood... I don´t wish our people to fall back into an age of  
barbarism, while slaughtering the lilim as some of my advisors ask. But I do want to  
lead them into a new golden age... So I decided."  
  
"You´re doing the right thing, Imperatrix."  
  
"Do you thinks so, Sel? It means breaking with traditions."  
  
"Old and dusty traditions, mother. Even traditions can´t withstand change forever."  
  
The Imperatrix gave a sign of approval and turned to her son.  
"Tabris, with impression I´ve seen the results of your experiment to give the   
Imperial Guardsmen the power of free will. I´m sure that this will be the necessary  
spark to prevent our people from stagnating."  
  
"I do not earn your praise, my Empress. I live to serve."  
  
"Tomorrow, when the second sun will be at the zenith above the thronchamber, I will  
speak to our people... and turn over the crown to my daughter Sel, so she can lead us  
into the future."  
  
Sel panted.  
"Your highness, that... I am not the oldest among the queens of the swarms..."  
  
"But you have a vision. As you said, it´s time to break with tradition. I don´t wish  
my children to follow me into my grave when I am gone as tradition would ask for if  
Sal ascended to the thron. Prepare, daughter."  
  
"I... I listen and obey."  
Sel bowed deeply and then left the thronchamber, followed by her swarm´s Warlord.  
"I still can´t believe it..."  
  
"Now our people will have a future", Tabris whispered.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"So, you want to steal my birth right from me, mother..."  
  
The Imperatrix looked up, saw into the face of her firstborn daughter, saw into a  
face full of hate and anger, heard a voice dripping with poison, felt the blade cutting  
into her chest...  
"Sal..."  
  
"I can´t allow this, your highness", Sal, queen of the first swarm whispered sweetly,  
while the Empress of the Angeloi sank down on her amberthrone.  
She straightened, pushed back her flamming-red hair and nodded to her co-conspirators.  
"Tell everybody: The Imperatrix Lilith is dead, long live Imperatrix Sal!"  
  
And the second civil war in Angeloi-history begun. The first had cost them the world of  
origin, the second would cost them their future...  
  
On one side where the Zeruels of the 13. swarm, the Empire´s elite warriors but small   
of numbers, supported by a handful of warriors bred by the scientists of the 8. swarm,  
following swarmqueen Sel and the Warlord Tabris.  
And on the other side was... everybode else...  
  
Sel, Tabris and his younger brother Armisael had barricaded themself within the building  
of the Great Portal. For three days now they were at war and the troops of the new   
empress were coming closer and closer.  
Tradion asked for the other Swarmqueens, their Warlords, High Assistants, Taskmasters  
and however else they were called, to follow the former Imperatrix into death so that  
nobody was left to doubt the new empress´ claims.  
  
"Sil is dead."  
Armisael´s voice was full of sadness, his eyes had lost their light.  
  
"I mourn the death of the 8. swarm´s queen." Tabris spoke the traditional words.  
  
One of the perimeter-guarding Zeruel-guardsmen aproached, went down to his knees, not  
wishing to tower over his betters.  
"My Warlord, our last lines of defense have been breached! I must suggest that you and  
the Queen flee."  
  
Tabris´ hands clamped around his weapon´s grip.  
All dreams destroyed... Sal, you are ascencing to the throne over the bodies, the blood  
and the hope of our people...  
"Armisael, is the portal ready?"  
  
"Yes, brother. The gateway to the world of origin is ready."  
  
"Good. Take Sel with you and leave."  
  
"No. I will stay here."  
  
"Armisael..." Tabris hissed.  
  
"I am just a scientist. But the Queen needs the protection of a Warlord, a warrior born.  
Logic orders me to stay and you to go."  
  
"Yes..."  
A final time he looked around.  
"Armisael, I will return one day. I know that I will die under the stars of our world."  
Then he turned to the Zeruel, whispered the name he had given to him.  
"Listen, Ishmael, trusted friend... our warriors shall withdraw. They shall hide within  
the worker-swarms and the swarm-less ones. You have my word that I will return..."  
  
"We will wait for that day, my Warlord."  
  
"Good. - Armisael, leave with them."  
  
"That´s not possible, too. I will seal the portal when you´ve left and take care of it,  
so that nobody will be able to follow you for a long time. Now the future of our people  
is within your hands... a long time it was told, that the Warlord of the 13. swarm will  
set ablaze the Fanal of War. I believe that it will be you to do it. Leave..."  
  
And Tabris stepped through the portal, following his sister.  
  
  
***  
  
  
They found themselves within a white wasteland of ice and snow. Their AT-fields were  
protecting them from the wind and the cold.  
  
"So, that´s the world of origin... this wasteland..."  
  
"Don´t judge too soon. It is told that our forefathers had to withdraw to a lifeless  
waste to escape the wrath of the other lilims."  
  
"Yes, sister... Queen... you have my word, that I will return to the swarm-world to  
reclaim your throne..."  
  
"I know that you will, Warlord."  
  
"Until then I will be Th´om´hh, the Warrior in Exile..."  
  
  
And so it began...  
  
  
  
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Cast:  
Ikari, Shinji - a fourteen-year old boy  
Ikari, Gendo - Shinji´s father, Colonel of UN forces  
Ikari, Yui - Shinji´s mother, Doctor at the Institute for Genetical Research  
Soryu, Asuka - fourteen-year old girl, grew up with Shinji, lives within the same house  
Suzuhara, Touji - one of Shinji´s best friends  
Aida, Kensuke - another one of Shinji´s friends  
Horaki, Hikari - Touji´s girlfriend  
Akagi, Rei - a new girl at Shinji´s class  
Akagi, Ritsuko - Rei´s mother, Doctor at the Institute for Genetical Research  
Katsuragi, Misato - a teacher  
Kaji, Ryoji - a spy  
Shigen, Thomas - Commander of NERV  
Shigen, Selene - Commander of NERV-HQ at Tokio  
Tamakura, Deiko - Captain of the NERV-Flagship Prometheus, old friend of Thomas Shigen  
Hyuga, Makoto - First Officer of the Prometheus  
Aoba, Shigeru - tactical officer at NERV  
Diane - An Arteficial Intelligence, the child of the MAGI  
Falk, Roderick - Lieutenant-Colonel, husband to Selene Shigen  
  
lots of EVAs, Matriels, Zeruels, Satchiels, Bardiels and stuff  
  
this FF doesn´t contain avatars or any other kind of SIFF (Self Insert FanFic Characters) 


	2. Chapter 01 - Rebirth

NGE-FanFiction * Turning Points IV - INVASION  
  
Stage 1 - The Game  
  
Chapter 01 - Rebirth  
  
  
"Darling, it´s time to get up!" a dampened voice came the door´s other side.  
  
"Just five more minutes", Rei mumbled, turned to the other side, facing the wall and  
pulled the blanket over her head.  
  
"Rei, if you don´t get up now, you´ll be late for school!"  
  
As hard as she tried, she was unable to ignore her mother´s voice completly.  
"Ach, Mom!"  
  
She heard that her room´s door was opened and her mother entered, the next moment the  
window´s blinds are removed and bright light fell into the room.  
  
"Now, my little sleepyhead, surely you want to eat a bit before leaving for school,   
don´t you?"  
  
Rei sat up and yawned.  
"I had such a nice dream."  
  
"Yes? About what... or whom?"  
Her mother already wore her labcoat but looked at Rei with couriosity.  
  
She felt her cheeks turning red.  
"I... ah... about nobody."  
Rei looked at the clock on the nightboard.  
"I have to hurry...!"  
She jumped out of the bed, grapped the clothes she had placed on the chair the evening   
before and ran out of the room, across the narrow corridor of the apartment where she and  
her mother were living, into the bathroom.  
  
"No? Well... how was your first day at the new school, yesterday?" Ritsuko shouted while  
headshaking tidying her daughter´s bed.  
  
"Quite nice" the answer came dampened by the running of water from the bathroom.  
  
"And, how are the other pupils?"  
  
"I... I haven´t got to know them, yet."  
  
"Ah, a pity. I´m sorry for moving to Tokio in the middle of the year, but I couldn´t  
turn down the offered job at the institut."  
  
"Mom, we have already talked about this a dozen times. I could have stayed with grandma  
at Osaka. So, and how was your first day at work?"  
  
Ritsuko Akagi smiled thinly.  
She tries to distract... Rei, what are you trying to hide from your good old mother?  
"Lots of things to do. But the collegues are nice. Maya... she´s working at her decree  
at the institut, gave me a tour. And the teamleader, Doctor Yui Ikari, seems to be quite  
a decent person."  
  
"Ikari? Did you just say Ikari?"  
The bathroom´s door was pushed open and Rei, wearing only bra and panties, looked at her  
with eyes wide open.  
  
"Yes, why?"  
  
"Ah, nothing."  
  
Ritsuko stepped into the corridor and went into the kitchen.  
"If you hurry up I´ll give you a ride to school."  
  
"Thanks, mom!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
A short time later Rei sat at the kitchen table wearing her school uniform and chewed  
her toast. Her bag was leaning against the tableleg.  
  
"Why were you that surprised when I mentioned Doctor Ikari´s name?" Ritsuko asked who  
meanwhile had finished her breakfast and was just packing a thermos flask with coffee  
into her own pack.  
  
"There´s a boy in my class with the same name, Shinji Ikari."  
  
"Ah. Maybe it´s just a coincidence."  
  
"Yes, maybe."  
  
"And, do you like him?"  
  
Rei choked on her tea and coughed.  
  
Ritsuko got up, went around the table and patted her daughter´s back until she had  
stopped coughing.  
  
"Mom, don´t ask me such things, I barely know him!"  
  
"Barely? So you already know him a bit?"  
Since Ritsuko was standing behind Rei she was unable to see the amused smile on her  
mother´s face.  
  
"Ah... we ran into each other on the way to school yesterday."  
  
"Ran into each other?"  
  
"Well, I turned around the corner and he came from the other side and we were both  
running and so we..."  
  
"Ah, I can imagine it."  
Now Ritsuko couldn´t suppress a giggle.  
"Did he say he was sorry?"  
  
Rei nodded and drank her tea.  
"I have to go!"  
She grabbed her bag and ran out of the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, I wanted to give you a ride..." Ritsuko shouted but was only answered by the  
closing of the apartment´s door. With a broad grin she sat down on her chair and once  
again checked the stuff within her bag.  
"Hm", she mumbled. "Ikari... Shinji Ikari... it would be a really big coincident but  
maybe he is a relative of Doctor Yui. I should ask me... Rei, Darling, you don´t happen  
to have a crush on this boy, do you...?"  
She sighed realizing that her only daughter was would turn fifteen very soon, would   
sooner or later have her first boyfriend...  
  
  
***  
  
  
On the other side of this part of the town another person also had troubles with getting  
up, or better to leave the dreamworld, still clinging to a very pleasant dream about a  
certain bluehaired girl with pale skin and red eyes he had met the day before.  
  
"Will you get up now, or do you want us to be too late again?"  
  
Even the large and thick pillow he had buried his head under wasn´t able to dampen the  
loud voice of his tormentoress who also happened to be his best friend.  
"Asuka, why don´t you just let me sleep and leave for school?" he growled.  
  
"Ha! That you would like, Baka-Shinji! If I didn´t wake you up each and every morning  
you´d spent the whole day carrying buckets for being late!"  
  
He knew the resistence was useless, but he pressed the pillow harder against his ear and  
his head against the mattress, trying to return to his dream.  
  
"Now move your lazy body!" Asuka shouted and pulled away his blanket.  
  
He should have expected this, it was one of her favorite tactics to wake him.  
  
"Ahh! Why aren´t you wearing shorts? You Hentai!"  
  
He pulled up the knees and covered himself with his hands. This gave her the opportunity  
to steal his pillow.  
  
"Why do you pull at my blanket?"  
  
"Hentai!"  
  
"You are a Hentai yourself, you peeping tom!"  
  
"I? So, there´s nothing to see, since there is nothing!"  
  
"Shinji, Asuka, school starts in ten minutes!" his mother´s voice came from the corridor.  
  
"Can you see? Now we´ll be late, just because of you... ah, forget it!"  
She stormed out of the room.  
"I´ll wait for you downstairs!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Five minutes later Shinji Ikari left the house when he lived with his parents, as did  
Asuka and her parents.  
  
The redhead already stood near the parkinglot in front the house and waited for him.  
"If Misato-sensei weren´t late herself always, I wouldn´t waste my time waking you every  
morning. For ten years I am doing this now and do you appreciate? - No!" she scolded  
him, before she grinned and shouted: "Lets race to school!" and ran away.  
  
He was already used to her challenging him after she had gained an advantage.  
Shinji sighed and followed her.  
  
  
***  
  
  
On the roof of skyscaper in the center of Tokio a government-owned helicopter without  
markings landed on the landing-field.  
  
Two humans got up, a man and a woman.  
  
The man might have been an eurasian, it was difficult to determine his ancestry. His  
hair was black with a bit of grey and a light shimmer of blue, the skin was pale, the  
face resembled a bird of prey. He only had one eye, the other one was covered by a  
black leatherpatch, a light scar divided the left brow. He was large and not broadly  
built, wore a dark suit and gloves and a grey trenchcoat.  
  
The woman as smaller that her companion, her hair was ravenblack, her eyes were hidden  
behind dark glasses. Her whole composure expressed attention and readyness. She wore  
dark trousers and shoes, a white blouse under her leatherjacket and one black glove over  
her right hand.  
  
Both were aged somewhere between thirty and fourty, both carried dark suitcases.  
  
They are already expected by a golden-blonde asian woman wearing a business-suit. She  
smiled when she approached the man and embraced him.  
"Welcome back to Japan, Thomas."  
  
The other one smiled, too, but without the warmth within his good eye it would have been  
a skull´s smile since the skin tightened over the bones.  
"I glad to see you, sister."  
He returned the embrace.  
"Where´s Roderick?"  
  
"He´s busy, but he asked me to greet you, one of us had to stay at Osaka with the prototyp  
and the testmodel."  
  
"I see."  
  
The woman broke the embrace and turned to her brother´s companion, offering her her hand.  
"Miss Deiko."  
  
"Lady Selene."  
Deiko took the offered hand with the gloved right one.  
  
"Good to have you both back. What did you discover?"  
  
Thomas cleared his throat.  
"Situation´s dire. We should talk below and then assemble the teams."  
  
Selene closed her eyes.  
"Fifteen years... we knew that peace wouldn´t last forever..."  
  
"At least we had the time to prepare." Deiko said.  
  
"Yes, but just remembering the sacrifices to stop a lone scout..."  
  
"Sister, I was there at the southpole", Thomas growled and pointed at his eyepatch.  
  
"Of course..."  
  
"It nearly cost us the complete team - and it was only one, just a lightly armed and   
armored Matriel-scout. This time it will an army."  
  
"I know."  
  
"In your last report you wrote that MARDUK had found a suitable candidate, tell me more."  
  
"Yes, a potential candidate, we are watching her... Come, Midori has everything prepared  
at the meeting chamber."  
  
They left the roof.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei stood at the same corner she had run into Shinji the day before and carefully peeked  
around, saw two running figures in the distance.  
  
Seeing Asuka her face twisted, way too well she was still remembering arguing with the  
redhead right before her new class to the amusement of her fellow pupils and the teacher.  
Then she saw Shinji running behind Asuka and just had to smile.  
Why do I feel attracted to him? He´s nice as far as I can judge... on the other hand I  
just know him for a short time... And what if Asuka is his girl-friend? she asked   
herself. At the same time she was feeling that Shinji and Asuka weren´t more but good  
friends, even without knowing where she got this knowledge.  
  
She did a step back to prevent being seen by Asuka who passed her. Then she turned around  
the corner - and collided with Shinji.  
  
"Au!" Rei shouted when she landed on her backside.  
  
"Uhm, sorry..." Shinji stuttered.  
  
"You again!"  
She was rubbing her forehead as if she was in pain.  
"Can´t you look out?"  
  
"I´m sorry."  
Embarressed he got up and beat the dust out of his clothes.  
  
"Well, okay."  
She smiled hesistantly.  
"Would you help me getting up?"  
  
"Oh, yes, of course."  
  
She took the offered hand let him help her to get back on her feet.  
  
"Idiot, where are you?" Asuka shouted from the distance after she had notices that he  
wasn´t behind her anymore.  
"Argh! What are you doing here again?!"  
  
"Uhm, you can see, I have to..." Shinji said and just wanted to turn away, when Rei asked:  
"She´s quite a good grip on you, hasn´t she?"  
  
He stopped.  
"Eh, no, that´s not right."  
  
"Yes? She calls and you run, like an old couple."  
At the same time she laughed, taking the sharpness out of her words.  
  
"Ah..." he only managed to say, completly captured by her smile. "Ah... Asuka and I are  
living at the same house, for nearly eight years we are going to school together now..."  
  
"So, that´s it! Hm, our paths are crossing here. We could meet here in future and walk to  
school together?! - Without further run-ins, of course."  
  
"Uhm, yes, I´d like this." he hurried to say.  
  
Asuka had turned around and was approaching the two.  
"Are you going to stay here, Baka-Shinji? Hey, Arami, can´t you look out a bit? Or do  
you even cross the street without looking to the left and right?"  
  
"The name´s Akagi", Rei correctey. "Rei Akagi, Asuka Soryu."  
  
"Uhm, Rei and I have just talked about meeting here and walking to school in the future,  
that´s great, isn´t it? I mean, you´ve complied just yesterday about noone of your girl-  
friends living next to our route to school, and..." Shinji hurried to prevent any kind  
of argument.  
  
"Yes, great, really great, Baka-Shinji! There´s just a problem - Wondergirl here isn´t   
one of my girlfriends!"  
  
"But... ah... you could become friends..."  
  
"I wouldn´t oppose", Rei smiled. "Why should we argue? It´s..." she looked at her wrist-  
watch and mumbled something. "The school does start... now!"  
Her eyes tripled their size.  
  
All three of them started running.  
  
  
***  
  
  
A knock at the door of her bureau...  
  
"Doctor Ikari?"  
  
Doctor Yui Ikari, vice-director of the Institut for Genetical Research, looked to the door.  
"Yes?"  
  
An old man entered, wearing a long red-brown coat and supporting himself on a walking cane.  
He had light grey hair, his head was nearly bald, the eyes were behind thick glasses.  
"I am Lorenz Keel, we had an appointment."  
  
"Ah, yes, Mister Keel, please come in."  
Yui got up, placed the files she had just read aside and pointed at an empty chair.  
"Sit down."  
  
"Thank you. I know, I am a bit early..."  
  
"That´s no problem. I am glad to meet you personally, Professor Fuyutsuki´s only speaking  
with highest praise of you."  
  
Keel´s lips formed an expressionless smile.  
"Well, I´ve heard quite a lot about you, Doctor Ikari. It seems you are kind of prodigy  
among genetic scientists."  
  
"Too much praise, I am just doing my job."  
  
"... which is financed by the committee I am a member of. The project you are working at  
at the moment, the final diciphering of human DNA is a great point of interest among us."  
  
"Eh, yes. Surely you have the reports about this and the other projects."  
  
"Of course. And your ideas are quite interesting... especially about mutations..."  
  
"Yes, but it´s only a possibility. My priority is correcting genetic flaws... like hereditary   
diseases... and extending human lifespan. Once we know about all secrets of genetics, we´ll  
be able do things unimaginable at the moment, like regrowing limbs and organs. Diseases will  
be purged..."  
  
"A very noble aim, Doctor Ikari. We are just asking ourselves how long it will take you to  
procure these results. See, we all, that´s the members of the committee, are quite old men,  
who´d have an interest in gaining some additional years."  
  
"Well, I can promise you a wonder, but we have achieved quite a lot in the last month. I´d  
say, give me a year and I will have found a way to naturally extend human lifespan by, say,   
ten to fifteen years."  
  
"I hope that you will be able to do so."  
He looked at his watch.  
"Ah, it´s late... Please forgive me, but I have to leave for another appointment, a man of  
my age can´t affort to be careless with his remaining time."  
Keel got up and slowly walked to the door.  
  
"I understand. Shall I accompany you to the exit?"  
  
"That´s not necessary, I know the way. Thank you for your time, Doctor Ikari."  
He left the bureau.  
  
For a while Yui was staring at the door.  
Why do I have the feeling that he wasn´t interested in the opportunities for healing at  
all but in achieving quite darker aims...  
  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Preview: What would NGE be without EVANGELIONs? Check out the next chapter for the new EVA-  
VR-game and the first appearances of a certain teacher and a certain spy. 


	3. Chapter 02 - The Game

Chapter 02 - The Game  
  
  
When Shinji entered the classroom in the company of the two girls, Touji and Kensuke started  
whistling.  
  
"Hey, Ikari, is one not enough for you anymore?"  
  
"Are you cheating on Asuka? How´s she reacting?"  
  
Shinji tried to ignore them while walking to his seat.  
  
Asuka was quite successful in ignoring Shinji as well as Rei when she joined Hikari and the  
other girls who are standing next to the door and talked.  
  
Of course Misato-sensei was late, by her own words she was late on purpose to give her pupils  
the chance to arrive before she did - alas her pupils didn´t believe this.  
  
Shinji placed his bag at his place and joined his two friends at the window.  
  
At once the teasing started again.  
  
"As wild as Asuka is I´d look for a change myself", Touji grinned.  
  
Shinji threw him an icecold look - the patented Ikari-gaze - and whispered: "Do you think  
Hikari would appreciate of you talking this way?"  
  
Touji dropped his jaw, one could nearly hear his brain turning into overdrive.  
"Öh..."  
  
Kensuke looked at them with bright eyes.  
"Do you know, what I read this morning in the newspaper?"  
  
"You are reading the newspaper?" the other two stooges asked.  
  
"Don´t you read the newspaper too?" Kensuke asked surprised and pushed his glasses a bit  
up.  
  
"Well, the sportssection, sometimes", Touji mumbled as if admitting to be able to read and  
write would destroy the picture he had of himself.  
  
Shinji yawned.  
"I´ve no time in the morning, and my father takes it to work with him."  
  
Kensuke only shook his head. On the other hand he didn´t want to admit that he read the  
newspaper to get the news about wars. There was no better way for him to begin the morning  
then looking at pictures of tanks or soldier while having a large breakfast.  
"This afternoon they will open the EVA-center at Tokio, the VR-game, I told you about last  
week."  
  
Touji grinned broadly.  
"Yes, great! Havoc in 3-D!"  
  
Kensuke sighed.  
"Way better. First hand mecha-action. The EVA-center at Osaka has been a great success, and  
the one here at Tokio will be way better!"  
  
"Uhm, so there will be lots of people", Shinji said.  
EVA-center... EVA... Somebody told me about it... what who? Father...?  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Well, I hate standing in a queue." Touji said and made a face.  
  
Kensuke laughed.  
"I haven´t told you the best - my uncle is working there as one of the programmers and   
supervisors, I already spoke with him, he´ll bring us in so we won´t have to wait."  
  
"Is this okay?" Shinji asked doubtfully.  
  
"Eh, don´t care."  
  
"Ah, Kensuke..."  
  
"Yes, Touji?"  
  
"This uncle of you... is this the mad scientist you´ve told us several times before?"  
  
"Uhm..."  
Kensuke lowered his eyes and blushed.  
  
At this moment the teacher´s red sports car entered the school´s parking lot with such  
a speed, that one feared the teacher was planning to drive straight into the classroom.  
At the last moment she hit the brakes and brought her car into the place between two  
other cars in a physically impossible way without even touching the other cars.  
  
"Ui, ui, ui, that´s just great!"  
Kensuke was short before slavering, alas, his admiration´s target wasn´t the driver but  
the car.  
  
On the other hand his two friends did their best to do his part while waving at the teacher  
broadly grinning.  
  
Misato Katsuragi, the teacher of class 2B returned the greeting while removing her sun-glasses  
and climbing out of her car, showing quite a lot of leg before walking into the building.  
  
At the door Hikari Horaki turned red with anger and shame about Touji Suzuhara´s behavior.  
  
"Ah, take it easy, he´s a neandertaler", Asuka explained. Her anger was directed at the fact  
that the teacher had told Rei Akagi the day before to take the free seat next to Shinji.  
  
"Yes..." Hikari sighed. "But a cute one." she whispered that lowly that only Asuka was able  
to hear it.  
  
The redhead made a face like being hit into the stomach forcefully.  
"You can´t be serious! Are you ill? Next time you´ll start to think that the other stooges  
were nice, too."  
  
"Shinji´s quite alright. And Kensuke, okay, he´s a bit weird with his camera, but at least  
he´s never tried looking under my skirt."  
  
"Ah... hm..."  
  
"Misato-sensei´s coming!" another girl shouted.  
At once the children by the door started moving, as did the three by the window.  
  
Shinji hesitated for a moment when he found himself the target of Asuka´s dark gaze.  
What have I done now?  
Than he noticed that the next hours he would be sitting between Asuka and Rei - and obviously  
Asuka had also noticed it.  
Why doesn´t she like Rei?  
  
Just when Shinji Ikari had sat down Misato entered the room, placing her bag on her desk  
and sitting down on the table. Suddenly all the boys in the class - and one girl - were more  
than awake.  
She hid a grin and started teaching.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Yui-san, what´s that?"  
  
Yui Ikari looked up from her work.  
"What do you mean, Ritsuko?"  
She walked to her new colleague.  
  
"I mean this here."  
Doctor Akagi opened several files about a certain string of DNA.  
  
"Oh, just a private project of mine."  
  
Ritsuko hurried to close the files.  
"I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to..."  
  
"No, no, it´s no problem, or I would have locked the files. Look..."  
Yui opened the files again.  
  
"Human DNA... no, not completely..."  
  
"Exactly. Familiarity is about 99,98%, so it´s neither the DNA of an ape or another of our  
animal relatives. But it still isn´t human DNA."  
  
"That´s no simulation of genetic manipulation?"  
  
"No. I got the tissue we´d extracted the string from about eight years ago, it was quite  
mysterious, I have to say."  
  
"Yes? Would you tell me, please?"  
  
Yui nodded and got a chair for herself.  
"I wasn´t Fuyutsuki-sensei´s deputy that time, but I was already working at the genom-project,  
alas it all was just in the beginning. One morning when I came to work, I found a small box and  
a note on my desk, telling me to analyze what was inside of the box."  
  
"And, what was it?"  
  
"Now comes the part macabre - it was a human finger, still very fresh."  
  
"Uh..."  
  
Yui grinned.  
"Well, that was my reaction, too. I showed it Fuyutsuki-sensei at once who called the police.  
But nothing happened, they just told us to keep the finger. By now I had it examined closer,  
the tissue was completely fresh even after three days, and it was missing die pattern of  
fingerimprints. I guess that was the reason for Fuyutsuki-sensei to order me examining it  
furtherly. And these are the results."  
  
"But what kind of being´s finger is it? It looked human, you said. Maybe a mutation?"  
  
"The tissue had a natural ability to regenate, keeping it still fresh even halve a year later.  
I can show you how it looks now in the freezing chamber."  
  
"Well, thanks, I think I´ll decline."  
  
"It has become some kind of hobby of mine over the years. And the examinations of the DNA-  
string gave me some new insight. Meanwhile I am thinking, that it is the result of pre-birth  
genetical manipulations."  
  
"Eight years ago..."  
  
"Yes, and it was the finger of a full grown human, a male, what sets back the time even more."  
  
"But they weren´t able to pull off something like this..."  
  
"Yes, exactly. It´s quite an interesting enigma. If you like you can browse my files, maybe  
you´ll find something."  
  
"During work?"  
  
"Well, yes, as I said, I gained some insight from studying it, look, for example this sequence  
here..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei looked aside to Asuka, noticed her doing the same, watching her from the corner of the eye.  
  
At once both girls looked straight forward, ignoring the other one.  
  
Hm... Asuka and Shinji are childhoodfriends, but why does she behave in such a way? I need  
a distraction... but how...?  
  
While Rei was thinking a message apeared on Shinji´s laptop-screen:  
@Touji, @Shinji: So, do you come to the EVA-center? - Kensuke  
Shinji cast a look at the teacher.  
  
Misato-sensei sat sleeping on her chair while the class was reading in silence.  
  
@Kensuke: I´m still interested, what about the costs? - Shinji  
  
@Shinji: Entry´s free for the first week, it´s ameasure of advertisement. But there´s a  
problem. - Kensuke  
  
@Kensuke: What? - Shinji  
  
@Shinji: An EVA-team consists of six pilots, but we are only three. - Kensuke  
  
@Kensuke: Where can we find three other persons? - Touji  
  
I´m interested.  
  
Shinji looked at Kensuke who just shrugged and looked around as disturbed as Shinji was.  
Somebody had not only hacked into the secure chat-mode, but there wasn´t a signature.  
  
Touji scratched his head, while he felt something was wrong he wasn´t interested in computers  
enough to notice the reason of the disturbance.  
  
Well? - Rei  
  
The three stared at Rei.  
  
She smiled.  
  
This was noticed by Asuka who gave a low growling like a slowly growing thunderstorm.  
  
@Rei: Great! - Touji  
  
Now Kensuke and Shinji looked at Touji who had greeted without talking to them first.  
  
Touji pretented innocence.  
  
Shinji shrugged and nodded.  
@Kensuke, @Touji, @Rei: So we are four. What about the other two? - Shinji  
  
"What...?" Asuka hissed, just before she started writing like a berserker.  
  
Rei behaved in a similiar, but very calmer way.  
  
Again the three stooges exchanged nervous looks.  
  
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Okay, I´ll be there. - Asuka  
  
@Kensuke: Häh? Touji  
  
@Kensuke: What´s up? Shinji  
  
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Don´t be afraid. Rei  
  
Somewhen class was over, exact half a minute before Misato raised her head and gave out the   
homework before getting up, smoothering her skirt and leaving the room.  
Most of the boys - and one girl - looked at her until she had turned the next corner.  
  
Suddenly Kensuke stood next to Rei.  
"Say, how did you this? The chat-mode´s normally secure, except..."  
  
"Except?" Touji repeated.  
  
"With the exception of her using the passwords of a teacher."  
Kensuke stared at Rei who preferred keeping her silence but smiled.  
  
Asuka joined them.  
"So, you are making plans for the afternoon and I don´t know about it? Shame on you, Baka-  
Shinji, trying to cheat on your best friend!"  
  
"Ah, Asuka, we... I thought you don´t like mecha..."  
  
"I do not, but saying I wouldn´t dare is the last!"  
  
Again the three stooges looked at Rei, slowly realizing the topic the girls had talked about  
within the chat.  
  
Rei pretented her innocence.  
"But we still need a sixth person", she explained.  
  
"We?" Asuka shouted. "She´ll be there, too? That´s not funny! Forget it, with Wondergirl..."  
  
"So, you do not dare?" Rei asked calmly.  
  
"Not daring? I? I, Asuka Soryu Langley, descandant of generals, kings and warlords? I do dare!  
I do not know what you are talking about, but it´s sure that I am way better than you at  
everything you do!"  
  
"So... and why?" Touji asked somehow feeling hurt in his male pride.  
  
"First: I am a woman, so I am superior to you neandertals. Second: I´m the best in everything  
I do..."  
  
"... except reading Kanji..." Shinji mumbled.  
  
"Shut up! And third: the game I´m losing in still has to be invented!"  
  
"Oh, oh, Asuka... it´s just a game, not World War 3" Kensuke said full of panic.  
Did I really just say this?  
  
"Yes, exactly, a game! And you´ll see that I´m the best mecha-pilot of the whole town! I don´t  
care if it´s named EVA, VOLTRON, RAMROD or whatever!"  
  
"Hm, are you talking about the new EVA-center?" a new voice asked.  
  
Four heads turned in the speaker´s direction with the exception of Rei who already had noticed  
Hikari approaching.  
  
Kensuke put the elbow into Touji´s rips.  
"That´s your big moment!"  
  
"Eh, yes... Yes, we... uhm... we were talking about it, yes, this was the topic" Touji stuttered  
and blushed deeply.  
  
Hikari smiled shyly.  
"A few months ago, while visiting my aunt at Osaka, I was at the EVA-center there. May I   
accompany you? I´ll like to try the team-mode."  
  
"Hikari, you are interested in mecha?" Asuka panted unbelieving.  
  
"Yes, what´s wrong with it?"  
  
"Well, you are a girl, and..."  
Her gaze fast moved from one to the next when she recognized that she was talking completly  
nonsense that might hunt her one day.  
"... and so we have to stand together! Lets show those bakas!"  
Suddenly she was even able to identify with Rei...  
  
  
***  
  
  
When Misato left the school after classes were over and went to her red sports car, she  
notices a man sitting on the other side of the street inside of his car, looking at the  
building.  
His hair was of a dark brown and she thought him to be quite attravite.  
  
Ah, that would be exactly my kind of guy she sighed silently. When she reached her car,  
she noticed, that he was still looking.  
Does he wait for somebody? With my kind of luck he´s waiting for one of his children,  
a married man living in a nice house at the edge of town...  
Again she sighed, got into her car, started the engine and left.  
  
For a moment Ryoji Kaji turned his gaze from the school to look after the red car.  
"Hm, nice legs", he grinned before turning back to his mission.  
  
  
  
*********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Preview: It´s just a game, isn´t it?! And a secret meeting is held... 


	4. Chapter 03 - Asuka Strikes - Again!

Chapter 03 - Asuka Strikes - again...  
  
  
The EVA-center of Tokio was at a large mall, on the other side was the Saotome-Dojo.  
A lot of people were waiting in front of the center, mainly young ones, for the opening of  
the doors.  
  
Kensuke lead the other five, Touji, Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Hikari, to a side-entry where  
an older man wearing beige uniform-like clothing was already waiting.  
  
"Hello, uncle Keichi!" Kensuke greeted the man.  
  
"Ah, Kensuke, you are right in time. Are these your friends?"  
  
"Yes, uncle."  
  
"Hello" it came from five throats and they even managed a correct bow.  
  
"Well, so, come in. We´ll open in half an hour but OE is well known for consumer friendlyness."  
  
"OE?" Shinji asked whispering.  
  
"OsakaElectronics", Rei answered whispering and looked at surprise that he didn´t knew.  
"Large trust, they are making computers, microchips, software... My grandmother´s working at  
the research section of OE." she added, not without pride.  
  
Kensuke´s uncle let them enter and showed them the center.  
He pointed at several large tubes.  
"These are the EntryPlugs, the control capsules, we have 36 altogether within the three levels  
of the center. Our computers are able to coordinate several groups at the same time, but having  
only six players on the field makes in easier. We are preparing for the big tournament next  
month already."  
On each tube was the sign of a cut figleave with the letters NERV...  
  
Shinji felt as if had seen it before, but couldn´t remember.  
  
"That´s great", Kensuke interupted his uncle. "May we try it?"  
  
"Well, of course, that´s the reason you are here, isn´t it? Just enter, put on the headsets and  
make yourselves comfortable in the pilotseats. I will communicate with you via radio and tell  
you anything necessary."  
He grinned.  
"Have the center in open and running I won´t be able to give such a tutorial anymore."  
  
Shinji looked around before a last time before walking towards the simulators.  
At the center´s first level was a lounge and a both were merchandise was sold. At the entrance  
stood a 10 foot high model of a purplegreen mecha armed with a rifle and with glowing eyes.  
It seemed somehow familiar.  
Suddenly his knees were shaking.  
  
"Hey, Ikari, what´s going on?" Touji asked.  
  
"Nothing..." Shinji mumbled. He turned his eyes away from EVA-01 whose look made him feel very  
nervous. Then he climbed into the EntryPlug.  
  
The capsule´s interior was filled a small seat, controls and several screens, on the seat laid  
a headset.  
  
Carefully he took the headset and put in on, sat down and reached for the controls.  
It all seemed strangely familiar...  
  
A red light in front of him was replaced by a green one. At the same time Keichi Aida appeared  
on one of the small screens next to the large main screen.  
"Ah, the first on to get ready. What´s your name?"  
  
"Shinji, Shinji Ikari."  
  
"Okay."  
As soon as I have told the system your names you will be able to open com-channels with each  
other."  
  
"Uhm, yes."  
  
"Did you already choose an EVA-type?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Wait, I´ll show the different types... Just a moment, now two you your friends are online, too."  
  
One after the other five small screens appeared with a sixth one reserved to control command.  
  
"So, now since all plugs are linked, I can show you the different types..."  
  
He started with the purplegreen unit one, continue with the red four-eyes unit two, the black  
unit three, the grey unit four, the one-eyes white unit five and eight other models of differnt  
colours and number of eyes, each unit had a special ability like unit three´s long arms, unit  
five´s sickle blades and unit six´s limited flight ability.  
  
"What about EVA-00?" Rei asked.  
  
"Oh, you seem to know your EVA... yes, I see... Rei Akagi, I just got your file from the center  
at Osaka... you are already a veteran, Pilot First Grade... EVA-00 and the other speziel units  
aren´t available yet, we are planning to upgrade some of them."  
  
"Could you give me unit zero?"  
  
"No problem, but you know - compared to unit one or two it´s quite weak."  
  
"But it´s faster."  
  
"If you think so."  
  
"What are the other special units, uncle?" Kensuke asked.  
  
"Oh, well, we have unit 4a with its retractable claws, the female model EVA-08a and some other  
things we are still working at."  
  
"I´m taking unit three, those arms are looking cool!" Touji explained.  
  
"Unit two." Asuka said.  
  
"Unit five, uncle, please."  
  
"Okay, and the others?"  
  
"Uhm..."  
Shinji was thinking hard. On one hand there was only one unit he wanted to pilot, but he couldn´t  
say why. It was the unit that gave him a sense of dread...  
"Unit one."  
  
"Good choice. Strong, fast, adaptable and extra battery power. - And you, Hikari?"  
  
Hikari closed her eyes and pointed blindly on the screen, deciding for unit eleven.  
  
"The turtle, alright. Scenario´s starting, difficulty one, have fun!"  
The screen went dark.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Ryoji Kaji saw the subject of his mission entering the EVA-center through a side-entrance.  
He shallowed down a curse while pulling out his ID-card. It wouldn´t be easy to keep his  
identity as head of NERV´s security a secret while operating at a MARDUK stronghold.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Selene led her brother and his companion to the meeting chamber at the building´s top level,  
it was the same building that contained the EVA-center.  
  
In front of the large doors two security guards are standing, both wearing light-brown uniforms.  
The meeting chamber was empty with the exception of a woman wearing a darkblue skirt, white  
blouse and blue jackett, her hair was of red-blonde colour, her smile was some kind of empty.  
"Deiko, Thomas-san, welcome back."  
  
Deiko returned the smile, finally removing her dark glasses, revealing deepblue eyes.  
  
Thomas just nodded slightly.  
"Midori."  
  
Her face hardened. She turned to a console.  
"Connection to Osaka headquarters established. Link secured."  
  
The holographic picture of a woman with steelgrey skin appeared, looking closer on could see  
that it truely was metal. Her skull was bald, she wore some kind of cape.  
"Greeting, Mister Shigen."  
  
Thomas bowed.  
"I hope, you are well, Diane."  
  
"I´m as well as an artificial intelligence with access to a high-end computernetwork can be.  
Thank you for asking. Shigen, that´s the name you´re using at the moment, isn´t it?"  
  
"Names do not matter, but yes, we can use this one."  
  
"Secury check finished. Identity: Thomas Shigen confimed. Access to network."  
  
Three other holograms appears, two men and one woman, one european and two japanease.  
  
The european was a large man with silverwhite hair and emerald eyes. The other man had grey  
hair, he was quite old and wore glasses. The woman had short black hair and wore a labcoat.  
  
"Thomas, how was your visit at the Antarctic?" the european asked.  
  
"Cold, Roderick, very cold." the one-eyes sighed.  
  
"I´m expecting you tomorrow for a medical check-up." the woman said.  
  
"I´ll be there, doctor Takanawa."  
  
"Did you truely feel the cold?"  
  
"Yes. My resistances have grown weaker again. I guess you will have the data soon to calculate  
my remaining time."  
  
Midori Sekigahama looked away to hide her true emotions.  
  
"So, Commander, how is the situation?" the old man asked.  
  
"It´s grave, Naga-san. We have watched the gateway at the southpole for nearly six months.  
The gate is gathering power. Using the data gained last time we can expect a visitor in six  
to eight week, Prime Minister."  
  
"That´s critical", Naga mumbled. "And considering your waning powers we´ll be on our own this  
time."  
  
"Doctor, have you found a treatment?"  
  
"The data we got from the Institut for Genetical Research were quite helpful with the clones,  
but we still have no treatment for your state of being. We do not know enough about the  
nature of the AT-field to prevent yours from losing more of its strenght."  
  
"So I am still dying, like I am for fifteen years now... We should concentrate on other matters  
at hand, I will make it for eight more weeks. And afterwards... - Roderick, please give me an  
update about our defenses."  
  
"The POLARIS-system´s online, the final NIMROD satelite is within earth orbit, all satelites  
are cloaked."  
  
"Good, so we will be able to detect any blue pattern on earth... it took us long enough. - Doc?"  
  
Takanawa nodded.  
"Construction of the PROMETHEUS is finished, the test-run was promising. Its cargo will consist  
of the proto type and the test type as well as onehundred N2-mines to be used as last resort."  
  
"I can just tell you again, that they aren´t to be used except absolutly necessary, such an  
explosion would rip the Antarctic apart and might destroy earth´s magnetic field."  
  
"Thanks, Naga-sama, but I already know. As I said, the flagship´s ready to put to sea. The german  
shipyard just told me that the ODYSSEUS will be ready as planned, St.Clair and Captain Sanchez  
are preparing the ship for the crossing."  
  
Thomas nodded.  
"And the american branch?"  
  
"The shipyards started working last month, the CHRONOS will be ready just in time to transport  
clone number five and six."  
  
"EVA-04 and -05... yes... Okay. So, any news about the clones?"  
  
"We have three units ready, a fourth one is short before completion."  
  
"Good. Thank you, gentlemen. Doctor Takanawa, that´s all for now, we´ll meet tomorrow."  
  
"Lunch at Luigi´s?" the european asked.  
  
"Yes, I haven´t eaten italian food for half a year now."  
  
"Good, see you tomorrow."  
  
The holograms of the emerald eyed and the scientist vanished.  
  
The old man nodded at Thomas and Selene.  
  
"I guess, you will speak to the UN council of security now, Naga-sama."  
  
"Yes, the sooner, the better."  
  
"Please suggest giving NERV high command of all defensive measures. We have been preparing for   
fifteen years now."  
  
"I will suggest it. - Thomas... I trust you fully."  
  
"Thank you, Prime Minister."  
  
"I know that you were born for this kind of war..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Each EVA is armed with two progressive knifes, you´ll find them at the shoulder armor. There  
are thirteen types of enemies of different sizes and abilities, as well as possessed EVAs."  
Keichi Aida explained.  
"The target of the mission is to eliminate all enemies of the field. We call them angels, don´t  
ask. Some of them appear alone, some of them in swarms, each type calls for a different tactic."  
  
Shinji didn´t pay full attention.  
On the main screen he saw a rocky dessert.  
  
He turned his head to the left, saw three other EVAs next to him.  
Just in front of him was a monolith-like building.  
  
"That´s a depot, you will find other ones on the field. The depots are holding equipment, mainly  
weapons. And you can recharge your batteries there or connect the maintanance cable that will  
provide you with unlimited energy but limit your range."  
  
Again the small screen went dark.  
  
"I suggest we stay together and secure the surrounding." Rei explained.  
  
"You died and made you leader?" Asuka shouted and got a futuristic-looking rifle from the depot.  
On the tactical screen a small window showed informations about the weapon: positron rifle,  
uses energy charges, holds six charges, standard weapon.  
  
"Asuka, Rei just made a suggestion." Shinji said.  
  
"I should have known that you´d take her side! She doesn´t know yet what kind of Baka-Hentai  
you are!"  
  
Touji started laughing.  
  
"We are on unknown terrain of type three." Rei explained. "We have to expect nests of Matriels  
at the first stage of growth as well as single Shamshiels, the last ones are hiding in the  
sand."  
  
"Ui, how did you come to know this all? You must have spent quite some time inside of an Entry-  
Plug at Osaka", Kensuke was astonished.  
  
"Well... This is an easy training scenario, but we still shouldn´t start without a plan."  
  
"Right..." Asuka growled. "Like I´d care. Come, Hikari, lets have a look what´s right behind  
those hills!"  
  
"Eh..." Hikari said. "I´d better go with her."  
  
Shinji opened a private channel to EVA-00  
"Rei, is it really that dangerous?"  
  
"For a beginner, yes. I still remember the first time I sat inside of a Plug... I ran directly  
into a nest of Matriels... little spiderlike angels... they have eaten my EVA."  
  
"So we should have an eye on them."  
  
"Yes." Rei replied and got a far-ranged assault rifle from the depot.  
  
"What would you suggest?"  
  
"There should be a rocket-launcher, Shinji-kun."  
  
"I... oh, well, Touji´s already found it."  
  
Touji Suzuhara laughed madly.  
  
So Shinji and Kensuke equipped themselves with positron rifles.  
  
"So, lets go hunting!" Touji shouted and left for the hills behind Asuka and Hikari had already  
vanished.  
  
"Hey, wait!"  
Kensuke hurried to close on him.  
  
"Hm, just the two of us are left."  
  
"Don´t you want to team up with me?"  
  
"No, I mean, yes, of course I like to be with you... äh, in a team, I wanted to say."  
  
She laughed lowly.  
"Understood. We should follow the others and stay between the two groups. So we can scan the  
terrain most effective."  
  
"How did you got this tactical knowledge?"  
  
"I... I don´t know... it´s just there, like a talent I was born with."  
  
"That´s interesting."  
  
"But I am impressed, too. Asuka and you are piloting the EVAs like you had lots of training  
before... Touji, too, but not that much..."  
  
"Uhm, Rei, I´ve never before been inside such an... EntryPlug."  
  
At this moment a scream come from the radio.  
  
"Hikari!" several voices shouted.  
  
Shinji and Rei started running towards the location of the two girls. Their tactical screens  
were showing two green dots starting to move, too, representing Touji´s and Kensuke´s EVAs,  
as they did show about two dozen red dots filling the valley where Asuka and Hikari were.  
  
"Shinji, they have run into a Matriel-nest! We have to hurry!"  
  
"Yes." Shinji ran faster. His screen displayed the data transmitted by EVA-02 and -11. The being  
called Matriels reminded him of spiders, they were called ´Matriel, stage-01´.  
"Are there bigger one?"  
  
"Don´t ask..."  
EVA-00 closed up to him, they just had to cross the next hilltop.  
  
"Why are they named Angels?"  
  
"That´s my grandmother´s strange sense of homour."  
  
"Your grandmother´s?"  
  
"Yes, my grandma, Naoko Akagi, develloped most of the game´s software."  
  
"So that´s the reason for your experience?"  
  
"No, I think she´d have like me to stay away from the EntryPlug, but I don´t know her reasons."  
  
"Eh."  
  
They reached the hilltop.  
  
In the valley Asuka´s and Hikari´s EVAs stood back to back, firing at a flood of small spider-  
monsters.  
  
"It´s more than shown."  
  
"The screen´s showing groups of them, Shinji-kun."  
Rei loaded explosive ammonition and took aid.  
"We have to give them some air!"  
  
Meanwhile Touji and Kensuke also had arrived. Together they fired at the dark mass, so that  
Asuka and Hikari could slowly withdraw. A minute later the nest was destroyed and the six EVAs  
were wlaking towards the next depot to recharge their batteries.  
  
Asuka was silent, her EVA had been chewed on, the left leg showed visible trails of bitmarks.  
  
Hikari on the other hand couldn´t stop telling about the small angels coming from countless  
small caves and attacking them.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Thomas sighed after the holograms had vanished.  
"Did they understand?"  
  
"I guess." Midori said. "Warlord." she added with icy voice.  
  
The artificial intelligence´s hologram rebuilt.  
"We´ve found three other suitable pilots."  
  
"Where, Diane?"  
  
"At the EVA-center of Tokio... just below your feet, Thomas."  
  
"That fast? At Osaka we nearly needed a year to find just one candidate", Selene whispered.  
  
"The data on the screen!" Thomas ordered.  
  
Four holos appeared right in front of him.  
  
"Four?"  
  
"Yes, the First Child, the first candidate found at Osaka, happens to be here, too."  
  
"Very interesting..."  
He browsed the data.  
"Asuka Soryu Langley... Touji Suzuhara... Rei Akagi... Akagi? The name´s familiar...?"  
  
"The first child´s a relative of doctor Naoko Akagi, develloper of the EVA-software."  
  
"Strange..."  
His gaze was stuck on the picture of the bluehaired girl.  
"Really strange... and Shinji Ikari... Ikari? Diane, more data!"  
  
"Ikari, Shinji. Father: Ikari, Gendo. Mother: Ikari, Yui..."  
  
"The son of Colonel Ikari... and doctor Ikari of the Institut for Genetical Research..."  
He shook his head.  
  
"Born at Kyoto. Lives at Tokio since 2004..."  
  
"Kyoto... that´s the reason he´s familiar..."  
He looked at Deiko.  
"Deiko, do you remember the night at Kyoto ten years ago?"  
  
"When we were running over the roofs?"  
  
"Yes... I´ve never felt that free again."  
  
She smiled.  
"And I´ve never seen such heroism again..."  
  
"Deiko, that´s the same boy..."  
  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Preview: What happened ten years ago at the city of Kyoto? And: More VR-action. And Shinji  
goes berserker...  
  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
A.N.: Attitude... What´s that?   
Well, I think there´s the line between criticsm and insult, a line that´s neither fine nor  
invisible. So why did I have found a mail in my box this very morning insulting my ancestry,   
calling me a thief and a bastard, the argumentation hiding behind the fact that this very  
fic seems to have similarities to an already existing one? Now I´ve browsed some chapter of  
Garden of EVA, which I found very interesting. And now I am also sure that nobody can  
accuse me of copying and stealing ideas since my version of the VR-game and Jim Lazar´s are  
quite differently used. But you´ll see soon.  
Another thing is that I´ve got several mails and one (not-signed) review telling me how bad  
my fics are due to the fact that I am writing Shinji/Rei fics.  
Well, bite me.  
Some guys seem to run around freely who seem to think: It´s a Shinji/Rei fic, so axe it.  
It´s not a Shinji/Asuka fic, so axe it. It´s OCC, so axe it. Okay, OCCness I can understand,  
alas, I am considering everything at least a bit OCC that leaves behind the original story-  
line. So, hell, as long as it is fun to read, why bothering?  
Just my two cents. 


	5. Chapter 04 - Fire

Chapter 04 - Fire  
  
  
Kyoto, ten years ago  
  
It was a cool and clear night, a perfect night with a bright moon at the sky.  
  
In the starlight two figures were running across the roof of the old part of town, jumping  
across the abysses of small streets, overcoming differences in height of several feet without  
problems.  
  
Deiko looked back over her shoulder, saw her companion just a few metres behind her. Since  
they had started he had gained continously. She laughted, that was exactly what Thomas needed  
after all what had happened during the last four years, a confirmation that he was still alive.  
Even if his outlook had changed he had stayed the same, the one she once had loved, the one  
she still was considering to be her closest friend. Fighting the angeloi-scout had cost him  
dearly, as had closing the gateway. And while ordinary humans happened to have her hair turning  
grey on such occasions, it had been the other way ´round with him...  
  
They heard sirens in the distance.  
  
Several fire engines of the local fire fighters were racing through the streets below them.  
  
She stopped.  
  
Thomas reached her position.  
  
"What might be going on, Elder Brother?" she asked, using the name of affection she was using  
since they´d met the first time more than ten years ago.  
She noticed that he seemed to look right through her into the distance and swallowed.  
Like four years ago...  
"A vision? A new opponent? A angeloi?"  
  
"I... I don´t know... it´s just a calling... come!"  
This time he took the lead, running faster and faster like he was moving on even ground.  
  
The target of the fire engine was a large modern apartmentbuilding at the edge of the old part  
of the town. Flames were leaking from the windows and about three quarters of the building  
were already aflame.  
  
Thomas crouched at the edge of a nearby house´s roof, watching a young woman in a nightdress  
who tried to reenter the burning house but was stopped by a fire fighter and a man wearing  
nightclothes.  
He tried to read her lips across the distance.  
"Her son´s still inside..."  
He stretched, looking at the burning building.  
"There..."  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
He smiled, already ascending a ladder to the next roof-level.  
  
She followed him.  
"At your state you shouldn´t even think about it..."  
  
Thomas turned around, already standing at the roof´s edge, pulled her close, pressed his lips  
onto hers.  
"Little Sister, who wants to live forever?"  
With these words he let her go, turned around again, jumped into the flames below, following  
the call of a frightened child...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Now:  
  
"That can´t be", Deiko said, shaking her head.  
  
"Yes, it´s strange how all puzzle pieces are coming together..."  
Again his gaze wandered to the picture of the strangely familiar bluehaired girl.  
"Diane, complete backgroudscan of all four persons."  
  
"Working on it. Further orders?"  
  
"Have them watched around the clock... and have them offered a place at the special league-  
member-training."  
  
"Confirmed."  
  
"Risky, Thomas, very risky. What are we going to do if they are not interested?"  
  
"Leave this to be, Deiko..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Wahhoo!" Touji shouted after they had destroyed the third nest of angels in a row.  
  
"That´s getting boring", Asuka said. "Always the same critters!"  
  
The last two time they had followed the tactics suggested by Rei and had been successful without  
problems.  
  
The main screen went dark.  
  
"Hey, what´s up now?" Touji said.  
  
Kensukes uncle entered the communication.  
"The tutorial´s over, you´ve finished all opponents."  
  
"Oh, already?"  
  
"Yes, Kensuke, the beginner´s scenario wasn´t made for professionals like you seem to be." the  
amn laughed.  
  
"May we play another scenario, uncle?"  
  
"Hm, we are opening now, and... just a second, yes..."  
He turned off the sound and looked aside, talked to somebody just outside of screen, nodded.  
"Our computers have analysed your performance and suggest now to recruit your to the league."  
  
"What kind of league?" Hikari asked.  
  
"Oh, well, since we are planning to install EVA-center in various cities, OE has also plans on  
a league where the best players can show their skills by fighting each other. And you´ve clearly  
qualified yourselves!"  
  
"Wow!" Touji said.  
  
"You will collect points for the ranking, and you will be able to buy merchandise at a lower  
price, the entrance fee for the center would be halved and on sundays you could even enter for  
free."  
  
"Owwww! Did you hear this?"  
Kensuke´s eyes are glowing.  
  
A little later the EVA-league had its first - and only - team...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Another round started, this time the six found themselves within the ruins of a city between  
the skeletons of skyscrapers and destroyed buildings.  
  
"Scarry..." Shinji mumbled after turning in circle once.  
"Rei, what do you think?"  
  
"That the scenario ´Ruin´, we should be prepared for everything, the opponents are varrying."  
  
"Ah, Wondergirl does not know everything!"  
  
"Asuka, stop it!" Shinji shouted.  
  
Her answer was a wolf-like growling.  
  
As secretly as possible Shinji looked at the small screen showing the transmission from Rei´s  
EntryPlug.  
I do just know her since yesterday, so why does she seem so familiar? When we ran into each  
other this morning I was... happy to see her... like I had missed her... but why? How can I miss   
somebody I barely know? But I trust her... because I know she´d never lie to me... or abbandon  
me...  
´I will protect you.´  
He blinked.  
"Rei, did you just say something?"  
  
"No, Shinji-kun."  
  
"Ah... uhm... I´m sorry..."  
´I will protect you...´ Like an old memory... but I hadn´t met her before - and when should  
she have told me something like that?  
  
"Do you want to root her?" Asuka asked who had equipped her EVA with a large axe at the next  
depot.  
  
The view of the red mecha with a mighty battleaxe was enough to make Shinji sweat when he   
replaced within his mind the red EVA with the image of Asuka carrying the axe.  
  
"Rifles and close-quarter-weapons seem to be right for this scenario", Rei explained with  
emotionless voice.  
  
"Ai, you are talking like old Michigawa."  
Touji made a face like he had bitten into a citrus.  
  
Kensuke started laughing with Asuka following.  
  
"That´s not nice of you!" Hikari complained. "Rei wants to share her experiences with us and you  
are making fun of her!"  
  
"Who is Michigawa?" Rei asked.  
  
"Michigawa-sensei was our last teacher, Rei, he went into retirement at the beginning of the   
year." Shinji explained.  
  
"Dry as dust, the old man was always talking about World War two and the years after, whatever  
class was scheduled."  
  
"Asuka, you shouldn´t speak about Michigawa-sensei that way."  
  
"Why not, Hikari, he can´t hear me!"  
  
"But it´s not right... it´s rude."  
  
Touji opened a private channel to Shinji.  
"Eh, buddy, how does she mean this?"  
  
"Just listen and learn." Shinji replied.  
  
Touji reentered the common com-link.  
"So, I´ve learned more from Misato-sensei this year than from Mr. Michigawa all the years   
before." he explained, obviously proud of being polite.  
  
"Yes - how to look under her skirt!" Asuka brought Touji back to reality.  
  
In the meantime Rei had gotten two rifles from the depot and given one to Shinji.  
  
Shinji commented the talk with a desparate shrugging which made her smile.  
  
Meanwhile Kensuke and Hikari also had their EVAs equipped, only Touji was still standing in  
front of Asuka and argued, or better: the black EVA stood gesticulating in front of the red EVA   
that was armed with an axe.  
  
Finally Asuka had enough and used her axe on the other EVA, cutting its leg at the knee.  
  
"HEEEEEYYYY!" Touji protested when his EVA fell aside and his point of view changed dramatically.  
He even thought to feel a fain pain within his leg.  
  
"So, there you got it!" Asuka growled and stomped away.  
  
"Touji, are you alright?" Kensuke asked.  
  
"Yeah, it´s just the mecha. But that ******* ***** Asuka...!"  
  
Kensuke made his EVA lifting up Touji´s EVA, without being asked and without giving a commentary  
Hikari came to his aid, together they dragged the onelegged EVA to the depot and connected it  
to the maintenance cable. Rei brought them the cut-off leg and pressed in against the stump.  
  
"It´s already reattaching!"  
  
"Oh, yes, you must have healing hands!" Touji grinned and fell to the side again when Hikari´s  
EVA let his one suddenly go.  
"Eh, what did I say?"  
  
Kensuke giggled. Shinji giggled. Rei giggled.  
  
Asuka waved with the axe.  
"Now, can we begin?"  
  
  
***  
  
  
The six EVAs moved in formation through the streets, Asuka at the head, next to her Touji armed  
with a spear, followed by Hikari, behind her Shinji and Kensuke with Rei acting as rear guard.  
  
At every crossing the first three ran across the street while Shinji and Kensuke secured the  
crossing street.  
  
Suddenly a giant eightlegged shadow fell over them. Nearly at the same time all of them looked  
up, saw a Matriel of growth-stage ten, or to say it with other words: a damned big one!  
  
"Move!" Kensuke screamed, let his EVA fall backwards, tumbling to the next wall and raising the  
rifle.  
  
A stream of tough grey fluid hit his EVAs head and chest.  
  
"I can´t see! And this stuff is like glue!"  
  
Shinji kneed down, took aim.  
This time I have the rifle... he thought and hesitated. Why...  
  
"Shinji, look out!" Rei shouted and pushed him aside, was hit herself by the next stream of   
fluid.  
  
"That bloody beast is going to web us! Fire!"  
Touji was waving with his spear while activating his EVAs jetpacks and jumping upwards.  
  
Asuka had run around the next corner and found what she had been locking for - a leg of the  
giant spider. And right now she was hacking at said leg.  
  
Shinji and Hikari were firing at the Matriel as was Rei, whose half body was glued to the ground  
but whose arm with the rifle was still free.  
  
The spider lost its balance when it suddenly lost one of its legs. Then it lost its life when  
Touji´s spear pierced its belly and three positroncharges exploded.  
  
Asuka returned to the team.  
"Hikari, watch our backs! Toji-baka, come, lets free Kensuke!"  
  
Shinji went into the knees next to Rei and inspected the meanwhile hardened fluid.  
"Why did you do this?"  
  
"I wanted to protect you... The webbing-fluids of the larger Matriels hardens real fast, you can  
cut me free with the knife."  
  
"Uhm, okay."  
´I will protect you´, it echoed inside of his head.  
"And, Rei..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Thanks."  
He smiled.  
  
She only nodded.  
"The Matriels are the kind of oppenent that can only be beaten by teamwork."  
  
"Ah, yes. Say, have you been to Tokio before?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Or Kyoto?"  
  
"Neither. The only time I had left Osaka was for a class-trip to Okinawa."  
  
"Hm..."  
He was busy cutting EVA-00 free.  
  
"Shinji-kun, may I asked you a question in return?"  
  
"Uh, yes, of course."  
He noticed that she had actived a private com-channel so that nobody could spy on their talk.  
  
"Do you like me?"  
  
He swallowed the wrong way and coughed.  
"Rei..."  
  
She seemed disappoined.  
"So you don´t..."  
  
Shinji was gasping for air.  
"I... ah... Rei, I am just surprised. Uh, it´s not that easy, I mean, you are quite okay, but I  
just know you since yesterday, and..."  
  
Rei laughed.  
"It´s okay, I was just joking."  
  
"Ah, Rei, that... I mean..."  
  
She closed the private channel and returned to the common channel.  
"Thank you." she said monotonously when she got up.  
  
"I..."  
  
"Say, my mother told me that at the institut where she´s working also does work a doctor  
Ikari..."  
  
"That´s my mother."  
  
"Strange coincidence."  
  
"Asuka´s mother does work there, too. But you are right, it´s strange."  
He was glad that she had changed the topic.  
  
"Attention! Opponent at four o´clock!"  
  
While EVA-00 and -01 turned to said direction and took aim with their rifles EVA-03 really raised  
the wrist at eyelevel when Touji was looking at his watch inside of the EntryPlug.  
  
"But it´s just a quarter past three!"  
  
Asuka hit her forehand with the open hand - as did her EVA.  
"Baka!"  
  
Kensuke´s EVA had been freed, too, but it still was covered with webbing so he was unable to  
see and move the neck.  
  
"You must protect Kensuke." Rei said.  
  
"I´ll take on the angel!" Shinji mumbled.  
  
His tactical screen identified the new opponent, a black-grey humanoid with a beaklike face  
on the chest. It was a stage seven Satchiel.  
  
"Look out, its weakness is..." Rei tried to tell him.  
  
"Its face, I know..." Shinji whispered.  
But how do I come to know this?  
He knew even more, like that the angel´s AT-field was to strong for the common positronrifles,  
that they would have needed an assault rifle.  
Where did I learn this? Where?  
His head started to ache, it was a pierching ache emanating from behind his forehead.  
  
The angel stood unmoving in the middle of the next crossing.  
  
Shinji reached for the progressive knife with the right hand.  
  
"Yes, is he crazy?" Touji said when EVA-01 charged.  
  
EVA-03 tried to follow EVA-01 but was stopped by EVA-00.  
  
"Don´t."  
  
"What? Why not? Ikari is my buddy!"  
  
"Do not intercept, Touji... The Satchiel´s mine!" Shinji growled.  
  
"Ikari, what did you got for breakfast?"  
  
Shinji made his EVA run, smashed into the angel that clawed at it.  
He grabbed one of the arms with the free hand, pulled with all its EVA´s might.  
Right before his mind´s eyes he saw another version of the battle, with EVA-01 stumbling  
around, its arm first smashed by the angel that then attacked the EVA´s head with its puls-  
beams.  
"Not today..." Shinji gnashed.  
  
"Something´s wrong with him!"  
Touji tried to push EVA-00 aside but Rei dodged the long arms of EVA-04.  
  
Shinji kneed the Satchiel into the groin, felt satisfaction.  
  
The angel grabbed EVA-01´s shoulder armor, tried to unbalanced it while dodging the knife.  
  
Shinji didn´t yield, used the full power of his EVA and ripped the arm he had grabbed out of  
its socket, throwing it away.  
  
"Urks..." Touji made. "Ikari! Kick it´s butt!"  
  
Shinji pressed his teeth together, pulled the angel around and hit it with his knife into the  
chest, directly into the face.  
"So, father, what do you say now..." he whispered.  
Why should father be interested in this...? Where did this anger come from? Why am I having  
blurred memories of having fought a being like this before?  
  
EVA-01 stood over its fallen oppenent, pulled the knife out of it.  
  
"Yeah, Ikari! And I though you´d need help!"  
  
"Touji, what has happened? I still can´t see anything!" Kensuke protested.  
  
The screens went dark, showing letters: Mission aborted!  
  
Kensuke´s uncle said:  
"Sorry, children, there are other people who also want to try it, it´s quite a rush!"  
"Too bad, uncle Keichi!"  
  
"You can return tomorrow."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"The datas are unbelievable..."  
  
"Yes, Miss Midori", Selene whispered and browsed again the data from the EntryPlugs.  
"Nearly unbelievable that it happened on the very first day... The boy has mastered the  
EVANGELION-system like he had years of training. This combined with the reflexes of a  
fourteen year old... And the two girls... I guess we´ve just found the pilots for the   
clones."  
  
"Yes, Lady Selene" her assistent replied stiffly.  
  
"Stay here, I will be down at the Geo-sector."  
  
"Do you wish to be informed in case of the discovery of further candidats.´?"  
  
"Of course... Thomas is right, it´s strange how everything´s coming together, like somebody  
planned it... Gendo Ikari discovers the Geo-sector... Yui Ikari discovers the method we are  
using now on the clones´ growth... and their son, Shinji Ikari, seems to be able to synch  
spontanously with the artificial brain of one of the clones..."  
  
Midori´s right eyelid twitched when Selene spoke of her brother.  
"An incident, not anymore."  
  
"I don´t believe in coincidents..."  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: The eyes of a child, the Geofront and Colonel Gendo Ikari of NERV  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
A.N.: Pwwweeehhh... 4 done, 22 still to go...  
What´s up with the additional cast, you might ask. Well, most of them are PICKs...  
(PICKs = people I can kill)  
Bhahahahaha!  
  
@Kimberly: Wie geht´s? 


	6. Chapter 05 - Shadowplay

Chapter 05 - Shadowplay  
  
  
Ten years ago:  
  
"Mom, why do I not have a daddy like the other girls?"  
  
Ritsuko Akagi started when her four-year-old daughter asked that question. The hot coffee in  
her cup poured over the edge and onto her labcoat. Startled she looked at her own mother who  
sat on the other side of the table.  
  
Naoko Akagi looked at her seriously and shrugged.  
"This question had to be asked oneday, you knew, Ritsuko, didn´t you?"  
  
"Yes..."  
She turned to her daughter who was looking at her with large eyes.  
"Rei..."  
  
The bluehaired girl tilted the head expectingly while put the hands behind her back.  
Rei Akagi wore a brightblue blouse, a sleeveless red dress that ended at her knees and white  
socks.  
"Yes, Mom?"  
  
"Listen, I... you are not old enough to..."  
  
"But the other children all do have a daddy, so where´s my daddy?"  
  
"Rei, your father... I... he´s on a journey, yes, for quite a long time now... he had to leave  
before your birth... and..."  
She swallowed, searching for words... other lies...  
  
"Rei-chan, I have to talk to your mother about something very important", Naoko said. "Why don´t  
you go to your room and dress for bed, hm? Grandma will be there in a few minutes and read   
something to you."  
  
"From the story-book?"  
  
"Yes."  
She smiled.  
  
"But you have to come, too, Mom, grandma knows such great tales."  
  
Ritsuko smiled forced.  
"Of course, dear. And don´t forget to brush your teeth."  
  
"Yes, Mom!"  
Rei ran out of the kitchen and into the bathroom.  
  
The younger Akagi sighed.  
"That came by surprise... like a punch to the stomach..."  
  
Naoko just nodded.  
"Sooner or later they all want to know... Growing up without a father isn´t easy, Ristuko, you  
asked silimiar questions when you was her age."  
  
"Yes, but father died in an accident..." With a hint of fear in her eyes she looked at her mother.  
"That´s the truth, isn´t it?"  
  
Naoko´s face darkened.  
"Yes. I did not have myself got pregnant by somebody I had just met at the disco."  
  
"Mother!"  
  
"Ritsuko, I´m sorry... But the question about your father..."  
  
"Well, but you are right..."  
She looked down at her cup as if she was trying to find an answer within the black fluid.  
"I met her father at the disco, we both were drunken, one thing led to the other and when I  
woke up the next morning he´d already left... and I was pregnant with Rei..."  
  
"Well, I showed you the possible solutions, but didn´t want to hear anything about abortion  
or adoption... and I wouldn´t have allowed anything of it after I saw her for the first time."  
  
"Yes... but... I can´t even tell her her father´s name if she asked, just because I can´t  
remember..."  
  
"Hm" Naoko growled with disdain. "He had his fun with you and left afterwards, that´s the way men  
are..."  
She wanted to add something but saw her only grandchild standing in the open door, already   
dressed in her nightskirt and listening with eyes wide open.  
"Rei...!"  
  
The girl ran to her room, crying...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Now:  
  
The expresselevator was descending for an eternity now after it had passed the tenth level of  
basement.  
  
Selene Shigen was used to waiting. She was leaning again the cabin´s wall and browsed the files  
of the potential pilots.  
  
A low ´ping´ told her that the end of the ride was near.  
  
Light filled the elevator, coming through the transparent walls.  
The elevator was within a glass tube, she was able to see the complete geofront below her,   
lighted by large reflectors at the ceiling of the underground cavern.  
The view gave her a sense of humility, she felt small.  
She saw her destination, the building at the base of the tube, a large obsidian black pyramide  
with the symbol of NERV...  
  
The elevator slowed down, reached the bottom of the shaft. The door opened and Selene stepped   
up to a security gate, placing her hand on the scanner and looking in the direction of the  
hidden camera.  
  
"Identifying: Selene Shingen, commanding officer of NERV headquarters at Tokio. Welcome!"  
  
The gate opened, on the other side an ordonanceofficer was already waiting.  
  
She returned the salut.  
"Bring me to control center."  
  
  
***  
  
  
The control center was a giant room at the heart of the pyramid, it counted five levels, the  
top level was the so called bridge with the desk of the commander. One wall consisted of   
countless screens, momentarily showing one large picture, a transmittion of the survilance  
satelite that´s been in geostationary orbit above the Antarctica for three now.  
  
Selene left the pyramid´s main elevator at bridge level.  
  
When heard the doors opening in his back, Gendo Ikari rose form the commander´s seat.  
  
"Anything to report, Colonel Ikari?"  
  
"No, all is quiet. Nothing´s moving at the south pole, we are getting constantly new data from  
the gateway sent by Fortess."  
  
"The calm before the storm..."  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Your skills as chief of tactics may be needed soon, Colonel. At the end of this week my husband  
will arrive with the PROMETHEUS and most probably he´ll be bringing the prototype and the test  
model with him. The ODYSSEUS will follow in three weeks with the first two series models."  
  
"I will prepare everything for their arrival. Within the Geo-sector a test of the remote   
controlls should be undisturbed."  
  
"Maybe the units will be tested together with the pilots."  
  
"So you´ve found some candidats?"  
  
"Yes. Three definitly and another one whose data is at the border area."  
  
"Children... It´s not right..."  
  
"From a point of ethic probably not, but we don´t have a choice. At this age reflexes are by  
far superior then with older human. Even the best pilots of the airforce wouldn´t be able to  
pilot an EVA and keep up the AT-field at the same time..."  
  
"But that´s just a theory. The psychic pressure within the EntryPlug has made each pilot who´d  
tryed so far loose his consciousness."  
  
"With the exception of the two of us."  
  
"Yes, but just thinking about having been piloted by a fourteen year old makes me sick. My own  
son´s at this age right now."  
  
"That´s what I wanted to talk about, Colonel."  
She gave him the files.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Careless Ikari let the file fall to the ground. On his forehead a large vein popped out.  
"You can´t be serious! That´s my son! He´s can´t be part of the project!"  
  
"Now he is. Your son, Shinji, is a natural, his synchrate is the highest one I´ve ever seen."  
  
"No, I won´t allow it!"  
  
"Colonel Ikari, do I have to remind you of your vow?"  
  
His shoulders slumped foreward.  
"No..."  
  
"Good. It will your son´s decision to join NERV or not, this I promise you. But you will do  
nothing that could affect his decision."  
  
"You don´t know what you are asking..."  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. A war is coming, a war against the Angeloi, we have to take any chance we  
get, Colonel."  
  
"I know. I know!"   
The final words he screamed.  
  
On the lower levels technicians and tactical officers turned the heads to see what was happening  
on the bridge.  
  
"You won´t talk about it."  
  
"Yes... But if anything happens to my son, god will be the only one knowing mercy..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
After they had left the EVA-center Kensuke and Shinji had stayed at Touji´s place for a while,  
eating cooking made by Touji´s mother. At dusk Shinji said his friends goodbye and walked home.  
  
When he arrived at the house he lifed, he was surprised to find Rei sitting on a bench in front  
of the house.  
  
"Uhm, hi."  
  
"Hello, Shinji."  
  
"What are you doing here? I though you were living..."  
  
"I´ve waited for you to come home."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
She lowered her eyes.  
  
At first he didn´t know what to do, then he sat down next to her.  
"Why did you wait for me?"  
  
"I wanted to talk to you... and I couldn´t wait until school tomorrow."  
  
"What... what do you want to talk about, Rei?"  
  
"You told me, you´d not know me long enough to tell if you like me."  
  
"Um, yes... Rei, I´m sorry, if..."  
  
Suddenly he felt her touching his. He twitched a bit, wanted to remove his hand but didn´t.  
  
"I didn´t intent to startle you."  
  
"Your hand is cold."  
  
"Yes... Shinji... I´d like to get to know you better."  
  
He stared at her, looked into her crimson eyes that seemed all too familiar.  
But why...?  
"Rei, I... ah... I´d like to get to know you better, too,... but..."  
  
She blinked.  
"But?"  
  
"But I already feel like I´d know you for eternity..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Now he was blinking.  
"Yes?"  
  
"I feel the same. Since yesterday, since we ran into each other... and I looked into your eyes  
when I got up..."  
  
"You too? Rei, I..."  
  
"Would you like to... be my... boy-friend?"  
The words came hastely from her mouth like she had trained them the whole afternoon. An   
expression that could have been called startled was for a moment on her face when she turned  
her gaze away and looked down to the ground.  
A single lock of blue hair fell into her face.  
"Shinji, this... I´m sorry, I didn´t want to obtrude on you... and I don´t know, why I..."  
She looked up when his fingertips gently touched her cheek and pushed back the lock of hair.  
  
Shinji smiled.  
"I don´t know want to do in such a situation... but... I´d like to be your... boy-friend..."  
  
"Really?"  
She moved her head a bit aside so that her cheek was resting in his open hand.  
So warm...  
  
"Yes, but I have to warn you, you would be my first girl-friend..."  
Before his mind´s eye another picture of her appeared with the half of her face covered by  
bloody bandages and the one eye, that wasn´t covered, full of pain...  
The picture vanished as fast as it had appeared.  
What was this?  
  
"And Asuka?"  
Rei´s voice brought him back to reality.  
  
He had to laugh.  
"We are at a movie once, a few weeks ago... and Touji had advised me... well, when I tryed to  
place my arm around her shoulders, I woke up later with a blackened eye."  
  
"I see."  
Hesitating she raised her other hand and touch the hand that was still touching her cheek.  
  
"Rei, I don´t know the reasons I told you this... maybe because I knew that you wouldn´t tell  
it other people or laugh..."  
  
"Never, I would never about someone being hurt... Shinji, I think, that... in a situation like  
this... you should... kiss me..."  
  
"I... uhm..."  
He looked into her eyes, saw that her words were meant serious. Slowly he moved foreward, pulling  
her towards himself at the same time.  
  
Their lips are closing onto each oter and...  
  
  
"Obscene."  
  
Startled Shinji jumped back and lost contact to Rei´s hand.  
  
In front of them Asuka stood, a shopping bag in one hand, the other one clenched to a fist,   
like an angel of vengeance that had been to the drugstore.  
  
"A-Asuka..." the boy stuttered.  
  
"What were your Hentai trying to do to her? And in public! Don´t you know shame?"  
  
"Asuka, that´s not your business." Rei said calmly.  
  
"Ah, is isn´t? By coincidence I am living in this building! What you were going to do...  
that was optical molestation!"  
  
"Stop it." Shinji mumbled.  
  
"Why? You are looking at every skirt, do you think I haven´t notice that you are always staring  
at my breasts?"  
  
"That´s not true!"  
And why am I always thinking of Asuka wearing her red-white bathsuit when thermical expension´s  
the topic of physics class?  
  
"Your breasts aren´t easy to overlook, Asuka." Rei explained. "Aren´t you a bit to young for  
silicon implants?"  
  
"What?" Asuka screamed, followed by a string of german curses.  
  
Hm, Shinji thought, that would explain the thermical expansion...  
  
Meanwhile Rei had got up, so that the two girls´ eye were on the same level, one calm and  
reserved, the other with deep red face and glowing eyes.  
  
"Keep away from Shinji!" Asuka was just demanding.  
  
"Why? You do not own him."  
  
"Because I do not want a bitch like you to be near him!"  
  
*wham*  
  
*rums*  
  
Asuka found herself sitting on the ground. Her cheek stung where Rei´s hand had made a clearly  
visible impression.  
  
"I am not a bitch", Rei whispered with a dangerous sound. "Note that."  
  
"You..."  
Asuka jumped to her feet, ready to kill the other girl.  
  
At the same moment Shinji finally started moving to prevent further violence.  
  
"Children, what´s going on?"  
  
The sound of his father´s voice made Shinji turn his head, while Asuka didn´t move.  
  
"Father..." Shinji mumbled.  
  
Asuka´s face twitched to show her unappreciation about this disturbance.  
  
"So, was going on?" Gendo Ikari repeated his question, casting a strange look at his son and  
then looked at Asuka´s reddened cheek where Rei´s fingers still were visible.  
  
Asuka swallowed.  
"We... ah, Mister Ikari, we are argueing and... and I..."  
  
Gendo looked at her without blinking, it was a gaze that would even have made a hungry wolf  
feel nervous.  
  
Asuka lifted her bag.  
"My mother´s waiting for me... and the shopping... I have to go... good night, Mister Ikari..."  
She ran to the house´s entrance and entered the building.  
  
Gendo turned to Rei.  
"I know my son. And I know Asuka, as I do know most children in the neighborhood. But I do not  
know you. Who are you?"  
His voice had a strange sound, like he already knew the answer.  
  
"Uh, father, that Rei, my... girl-friend." Shinji said. The words felt right...  
  
Rei´s eyes lightened up. She smiled at Gendo.  
"I am Rei Akagi. You are Shinji´s father?"  
  
"Yes." Gendo said stand offish. "You should go home, it´s getting late." Without paying  
any further attention to her he turned to Shinji. "Your mother´s waiting for you, I´m sure."  
  
Shinji swallowed.  
"Yes, father."  
Normally he´s not like that... not like a stranger... or an enemy...  
  
Rei nodded.  
"Yes, Co... Mister Ikari. Shinji, we´ll talk tomorrow at school, yes?"  
  
"Yes. Good night, Rei."  
He smiled hesitanting.  
  
"Good night, Shinji."  
She looked at Gendo, bowed and ran away.  
Why did I want to address him as ´Commander´ at first?  
  
Gendo looked at his son darkly.  
"Stay away from this girl."  
He walked pass Shinji towards the building.  
  
"Why, father?"  
  
The older Ikari didn´t turn around when he said:  
"She means trouble."  
Maybe that´s the only way I can prevent them from talking you away...  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Mom! I´m home!" Rei shouted when she closed the apartment´s door and took off her shoes,   
kicking them well-aiming into a corner.  
  
"Finally. I was already concerned!" it came from the living room.  
  
Rei looked around the corner, her mother was laying on the couch, still wearing her labcoat.  
The cat sat on the couch´s back and gave a low ´Miau´.  
  
"That wasn´t my intention. What´s up?"  
  
"Headache."  
  
"I´ll make some tea."  
  
"No, not necessary. How was school?"  
  
Rei nodded and shrugged.  
  
Ritsuko laughed.  
"I answered grandma the same way when she asked. - And your friend?"  
  
"What... Mom!"  
  
"Doctor Ikari´s son´s really in your class. And doctor Soryu´s daughter, too, if that´s not a  
stange coincident."  
  
"I could resign to Asuka Soryu", Rei mumbled.  
  
"Darling, what´s up?"  
  
"Nothing..."  
  
"Rei!"  
  
"She called me a bitch."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I... I don´t know... I guess she´s jealous."  
  
Ritsuko frowned.  
"Oh, Rei, problems with a boy? Or because of a boy?"  
  
Rei looked down to the floor, the hands with her bag behindd her back.  
  
"Well, that wasn´t nice by her. What did you do?"  
  
"I kicked her @$$!"  
  
"Rei... I never knew you that way..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lunch at Ikari´s was in silence.  
  
More than once Yui tryed to initiate a talk with her husband and her son, but failed at their  
untalkativity. After Shinji had said goodnight and gone to his room, she turned to Gendo.  
"What´s going on?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Gendo, I want to know what´s up with you, now! Do you have trouble at the ministry? Are you  
griefing about something?"  
  
"No." he replied and got up.  
  
She sensed that he was lying...  
  
  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: What happened fifteen years ago at the south-pole? * More memories * And a visit at the   
clone vats... 


	7. Chapter 06 - White Ice

Chapter 06 - White Ice   
  
  
Fifteen years ago:  
  
"Fascinating..." Professor Katsuragi mumble and gave his binocular to the captain of the UN-  
forces who stood to his left. "Look, Ikari!"  
  
Gendo Ikari removed the dark glasses that protected his eyes from the blinding whiteness of  
the antarctical snow, before taking the binoculars with thickly gloved hands. The antarctical  
cold was biting into his exposed skin. He looked through the binocular into the direction the  
professor was poining.  
"What´s that...?"  
In the distance, at their journey´s destination, was a large black wall that seemed to reach  
for the sky.  
Ikari wasn´t an expert for the antarctical environtment at the south-pole, but common sense  
was telling him that something like that was completly unnatural.  
  
Together they returned to the convoi of four armored track-laying vehicles and half a dozen  
dog-sleds pulled by giant huskies that reminded Ikari more of wolves than of dogs. A week ago  
they had left the basecamp at the coast for the heart of the white continent.  
To the Katsuragi-expedition eight scientist and ten soldier under Gendo Ikari´s command belonged,  
soldiers of the peacekeeping forces. And there also where three civil passengers on board of  
mobile one: the twelve year old daughter of the professor - Ikari couldn´t understand the reasons  
for having her come along -, a rather young blackhaired asian woman who seemed to have some skill  
with firearms, and a young man with ashgrey hair, pale skin and red eyes, neither scientist nor  
soldier or official of the UN, but still secret commander of the expedition.  
  
"Did you see it?" the greyhaired asked when Ikari had closed the mobile´s hatch and was putting  
off the thick parka.  
  
"Like a wall of darkness."  
Katsuragi climbed into the back of the vehicle to write it down.  
  
A soldier sat behind the wheel, the greyhaired sat on the front-seat passenger´s seat and  
had his head turned so that he was looking into the back of the vehicle, while between than  
Katsuragi´s daughter Misato sat on a tip-up seat and looked with wide opened eyes at the  
endless white waste in front of them, that endet in the distance at the dark wall.  
  
"The satelite´s still transmissing the same picture, like the whole south-polar region wouldn´t  
exist at the moment."  
The greyhaired whose name was Thomas Shingen, pointed at one the screens.  
The picture showed the Antarctica, but in the center was a large black spot.  
Since two weeks the picture had been the same, the area of darkness neither grew nor did it  
shrink. It had been there without warning, at the time a feint radiation had been sensed.  
Two planes that had entered the region were crashed when all systems went dead.  
So the UN had sent the expedition, led by Hiro Katsuragi, with Captain Ikari and his team to  
protect the scientist. And Thomas Shigen was authorised to take over command if it was necessary.  
  
They didn´t tell me, what this case would be... And what to protect the scientist against...  
And the reasons for two of the vehicles being mobile gun emplacements... Gendo thought.  
"Did you expect anything else?" he asked his ´superior´.  
  
Shigen shook his head.  
You know it, I bet!  
  
"Six hours south, four hours rest... and tomorrow to the pole using the sleds", Shigen repeated  
the plan.  
  
They could not risk entering the region with the vehicles, it would be a long way home, should   
they become useless.  
  
Gendo nodded. He wished to be with his wife at Kyoto. Their first child would be born soon.  
If it is a boy, we´ll call him Shinji, and if it is a girl, Rei...  
  
  
***  
  
  
They had left the vehicles behind and approached the polar region by sled.  
They, that were Katsuragi and another scientist, Captain Ikari and four of his men and Shingen  
and his companion Deiko Tamakura. While they all wore thick protection cloth against the cold,  
the greyhaired only wore a headset, boots, jeans and a thick cotton shirt.  
Gendo felt cold just by looking at him.  
  
Thomas noticed Gendo´s questing gaze.  
"I might have to able to move freely."  
  
"You will freeze to death!"  
  
"No."  
Just a word, but full of determination.  
  
Gendo didn´t say another word. His attention was caught by a crate on the same sled.  
"You brought the N2-mine along..."  
  
"We were ordered to inspect the phenomena and destroy it in case of danger."  
  
"Yes."  
He knows what to expect, or the security council would not have taken the risk of blowing up  
earth´s magnetic field...  
He spoke his thoughts.  
  
"Captain Ikari, do you believe in god?"  
  
Gendo blinked.  
"Yes."  
  
"So start praying that I am wrong..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Now:  
  
Shinji looked up to the swimming pool, where the girls of his class had sports, while he and  
the other boys are at the racing track.  
  
There Rei sat, back to the chicken wire, somehow she seemed to be very far away.  
  
"Eh, Ikari..."  
  
Suddenly Shinji felt a heavy weight on his shoulders, when Touji leaned against him.  
  
"What are you looking at? Ah... Akagi... Do you have a crush on her?"  
Touji grinned broadly.  
"What do you think is the most interesting part of her body? The bright white legs? Or her  
breasts?"  
  
"Her eyes..." Shinji whispered, partly ignoring Touji.  
  
"Her eyes?" Touji repeated confused.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Her eyes?"  
  
The next moment Shinji clenched a fist and knocked with the knuckles at Touji´s forehead.  
It sounded hollow.  
"Somebody´s at home?"  
  
"Eh... why her eyes? What´s interesting with a girl´s eyes?"  
  
"Touji, sometimes I am really asking myself which bodypart you are using to think with..."  
Shinji sighed and looked at Rei again, noticed her answering his gaze.  
He waved, thought to see her smiling.  
  
She waved back.  
  
Asuka appeared at the wire screen and cast an angry look at Shinji before circling around and  
moving out of his field of view."  
  
"Oh, oh, trouble in paradise?" Touji asked. He didn´t sound mockingly.  
  
"The two of them do not get along."  
  
"Yeah, like fire and water."  
  
Shinji looked at his friend surprised who had proven with the last two sentences more intellect  
than during the last two years.  
"Yesterday they would nearly have beaten up each other."  
  
"When?"  
  
"After I left your place."  
  
"Damn, I´d like to watch."  
  
The hopes Shinji just had had for him vaporised.  
  
"Was this the reason for you being late today?"  
  
"Yes, Asuka left without me."  
He didn´t say that he not even had slept in but also missed Rei, he also didn´t mention that  
he feared her being angry at him since she had barely spoken two words to him all day.  
  
"She can be quite revancefull."  
  
"Whom are you telling... and most times she doesn´t even need a reason to be angry..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
During lunchbreak Shinji moved up to the bench where Rei was sitting and eating her lunch.  
"Rei, may I sit down?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
He cast an eye at her food, but somehow he already knew what it was.  
"Vegetarian."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Uhm, Rei, this morning... I didn´t want to miss you... I´ve overslept."  
  
She looked at him for a moment before continuing to eat.  
"I believe you... but you will have to make up for it."  
  
He took a deep breath.  
"Yes, of course."  
In his mind he heard his father´s voice.  
´Stay away from her, she means trouble´  
Nonsense. Why should Rei mean trouble for me?  
In reality he felt happy.  
"Ah, Rei, Touji, Kensuke and I are going to the EVA-center, I wanted to ask you if you´d come  
along since you are the best pilot of us, and..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You are coming along?"  
  
"Yes."  
The corners of her mouth twitched.  
"Yes, I will come along."  
  
"Ah, that´s nice, yes... and afterwards would you go with me for an ice-cream?"  
  
She nodded.  
"And don´t forget - you owe me something."  
  
"Ah, yes."  
He nodded hastely, thinking that she was talking about the morning.  
  
  
***  
  
  
In front of the EVA-center the three boys and the bluehaired girl nearly ran into Hikari and  
Asuka who were waiting for them.  
  
Asuka ignored Rei and looked at Shinji with anger.  
  
"I thought, you´d come alone." Touji said to Hikari with low voice.  
  
"Asuka´s part of the team", she replied not that sure anymore if it really was a good idea to  
bring Asuka along.  
  
When they entered the center the abyss gaping between the two girls was nearly visible.  
  
Shinji looked at Asuka with sorrow who only replied by twisting her lower lip.  
  
"One could think them to have been blood-enemies in another life." Kensuke whispered.  
  
´You are the Commander´s darling´ Shinji thought to hear Asuka speaking, but her lips weren´t  
moving.  
She didn´t told me, but Rei... but when? And who´s the commander?  
For a moment he saw a picture of his father before his mind´s eye, his face cold, his eyes  
hidden behind dark-tinted glasses.  
White gloves... father never wears gloves... why am I seeing this pictures?  
He hid his face in his hands, closed his eyes.  
In the darkness, he wasn´t seeing pictures...  
  
A hand touched him at the shoulder softly.  
  
"Shinji, are you alright?"  
  
Ayanami! he thought. But he was unable to connect anything to the name. It just seemed to  
suit Rei better than the name Akagi.  
  
"Shinji-kun?" Rei asked again.  
  
He raised the head, looked into her crimson eyes, saw the alarm in her gaze. The way she stood  
in front of him he was quite able to look right into her shirt. He blushed, turned his eyes away  
and tryed thinking about anything else to prevent the thermical expansion of certain bodyparts.  
"Gomen."  
  
Rei frowned.  
What does he mean?  
She noticed that the upper buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned.  
Oh...  
She blushed.  
Why do I feel shame? He touched me before... his touch was pleasant... but... when did this  
happen? Why... why do I have these memories?  
With a sound like drowing but gasping for air she let herself fall down to the bench next to  
Shinji and pressed the hands against the temples. The pictures within her mind vanished.  
  
"Ah... Rei, what´s up with you?" Shinji whispered.  
  
She looked at him and recognized the truth.  
"You have these visions, too..."  
  
"I..."  
´I don´t know what you are talking about´, he wanted to answer, to remove the impression of being  
crazy, to prevent being returned to the holding cell at headquarters...  
Holding cell...?  
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.  
"Rei, I can´t say... sometimes I have the feeling to have already experienced something...  
but... it´s just like... like I took another choice... do you understand?"  
  
"Yes... I have those... memories myself... where are you coming from?"  
  
"Since when?"#  
  
"Since I met you two days ago."  
  
He thought about it, then he nodded.  
"Yes, the same with me. But what´s the reason?"  
  
She just shook her head.  
"I don´t know. But these memories... they are showing an alternate reality... a worse reality..."  
  
"Aya..." he started, swallowed the rest when her eyes widened with fear.  
  
"I am in your memories."  
  
"Yes... you, Asuka, Kensuke, Touji..."  
His gaze stopped at Touji who was just getting a coke from the vending machine, but he saw him  
laying on the bed under a white cover without an arm and a leg...  
Shinji´s gaze blurred when his eyes filled with tears.  
"Touji... it was my doing... my fault..."  
He nearly did not notice Rei embracing him and pulling him close to her.  
"Rei, why do I see this? Why do I know this? It can´t be real..."  
  
"I can´t answer your questions... but you are in my memories, too. Together we might make it."  
  
"Together?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Rei, I remember you, but you were also different..."  
  
"Yes." she said monotonously, sending a shivver down his spine.  
  
"Am I crazy?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then... I don´t believe in reincarnation, but... could these memories come from another... a  
past life?"  
  
"No, that´s us, like we are now and today... but different..."  
  
Touji came to them.  
"May I disturb you two lovebirds? - We can use the plugs now... Eh, Ikari, sure, it´s great, but  
no reason to cry... or shall I leave you alone? It´s not the most perfect place, but..."  
He winked conspiriously.  
  
Shinji wiped across his eyes.  
"Touji, it´s not what you are thinking."  
  
"It´s not? Well, could you speak then with Hikari on my behalf so she´ll embrace me, too?"  
  
"We´ll coming in a moment." Rei said.  
  
"Oh, take your time, Kensuke´s making sure that noone takes our place - and I am betting that  
Asuka´s in the right mood to enforce this."  
  
"Maybe she cools down..." Shinji mumbled unable to resist his own sarcasm.  
  
"Hm, yes, maybe", Touji replied thoughtful, once again letting go of the idiot´s mask before  
leaving the lobby.  
  
"Rei, what shall I do?"  
  
"I can´t give you an answer... Shinji-kun, but I can tell you what I´ll do."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Trying to think about something else. Those memories come and go without us being able to do  
anything against it. We can only try to keep our calm... and hope to understand..."  
  
"You are strong, Rei, stronger than I."  
  
"You told me once already... the night, we..."  
She swallowed, tried to play down her embaressment and surprise with a smile.  
"I don´t think that I am stronger than you, or this wouldn´t happen to me."  
  
"At the mountain... you did protect me there..." he whispered. "Rei, whatever happens... I think  
we have a special bond, something that can´t be expressed with words...  
  
"Yes..."  
She took his hand, dragged him from the bench with her.  
"Come, lets face reality... and Soryu... I mean Asuka..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Within a large underground lab doctor Miyuki Takanawa watched the fruits of her labour from a  
catwalk about five metres above the ground.  
  
Two cage-like constructions were holding two humanoid giants, both submerged in a light pink  
fluid up to the belt.  
One of the giant was mainly coloured orange with white parts, it only had one eye on the middle  
of its forehead. On the shoulderpieces of its armor was written: ´00´ and ´prototype´.  
The other giant looked by far more dangerous compared to its brother, the main reason was its  
bulkier armor and the horn protruding from the skull. It was of purple-green colouring, the  
shoulderpieces were carrying the letters ´01 - testtype´.  
  
Two men approached the scientist, Thomas Shingen and Roderick Falk, the last one a large man  
of seven feet height but still a dwarf compared to the giants. Befind them Deiko Tamakura  
walked, one hand constantly close to her gun.  
  
"Doc, will the clones be ready to be transported when the PROMETHEUS takes to sea?"  
  
"Of course, Shigen-sama."  
  
"Good."  
  
Falk wore an UN-uniform with the insignias of a Lieutenant-Colonel.  
"So, I will take them on board in four days, in six days we´ll take to sea. And next week we´ll  
arrive at Tokio so the clones can be tested within the Geo-sector, before we send them to   
Antarctica."  
  
Thomas nodded.  
"And the two series models?"  
  
"Unit three´s still inside of the growth vat, the modifications had slowed down its growth a bit,  
but with the ODYSSEUS taking to sea at Wilhelmshaven at the end of next week we´ll be within  
schedule again. I am preparing a new growth solution for the next two clones at the moment, you´ll  
just have to find suitable pilots."  
  
"Leave it to me, we are already testing some candidats."  
  
"Good. Alas, I have to run some tests on yourself, are you ready?"  
  
"Of course, doctor Takanawa."  
  
"So follow me. I need some additional spinal fluids."  
  
"Oh, great..."  
He rolled his eye.  
  
"You weren´t that sensible before."  
  
"I was having my full powers before, Doc."  
He turned to his brother-in-law.  
"I will fly to the mainland today, the chinese prime minister is waiting for me for a match of  
Wei qi, so don´t expect me back this week."  
  
"He´s good."  
  
"Yes, but I´ve learned from the best."  
  
Falk grinned.  
"So we´ll meet at the great family gathering at Tokio."  
  
Thomas laughed shortly.  
"Prime Lau is a tough man to negotiate with, but we need the Chinese for the scenario not to  
fail, or the American or the Russians will change their mind."  
  
"Yes, we already talked about that. The Americans are at DEFCON-3 now, our warnings seems to  
carry fruits."  
  
The oneeyed nodded.  
"And General Talbot finally has the change of pace he had hoped for so long."  
  
"Yes... So, we´ll meet again next week."  
  
  
  
**********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Next: more about the expedition * and the teacher and the spy 


	8. Chapter 07 - Burning Ice

Chapter 07 - Burning Ice  
  
  
Fifteen years ago:  
  
They reached the wall of darkness, that seemed to grow up right into the sky.  
  
Katsuragi approached it with his instruments, another scientist readied a large pole to get a  
sample. The pole entered the darkness without meeting resistence, or so it seemed. When the  
man tryed to pulled it back the other end had simply been dissolved.  
  
Katsuragi looked at his instruments.  
"The radiation´s stronger here..."  
  
Thomas walked to his side, raised an arm so that his open hand was parallel to the wall.  
"Tetryon-radiation..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Professor Katsuragi, this is the expected and feared case of emergency. I´m taking over command  
now."  
  
"Just give me a moment to examine it..."  
  
Thomas did a step forward, then another one. His hand came in contact with the darkness.  
  
"Thomas!" Deiko screamed.  
  
But it was already to late. The darkness closed around his hand, moved up his arm.  
Shingen´s body went stiff.  
  
The darkness´ approach stopped at the ellbow, it seemed to thicken around him, at other places  
it lost its concentration, showed openings. And then the field of darkness vanished, absorbed  
by his power.  
  
And they were able to see their destination - and the enemy...  
  
  
***  
  
  
In front of them was an ice-covered mirror-like plain without any elevalations.  
The ice was transparent, below a thick mantle of ice were the buildings and streets of a city  
of giants.  
  
"Incredible", Katsuragi whispered.  
  
Thomas touched the microphon of his headset.  
"Deiko, like we feared, the ancient town is visible. - Captain Ikari, prepare for command:   
Wildfire. - Professor, what are your instruments reading?"  
  
"The radiation´s increasing."  
  
"Yes... I removed the shielding."  
  
"How..."  
  
"You have no time. Return to mobile one and leave immediatly."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Thomas only shook his head, then he pointed at the being that had materialized at the center  
of the plain accomplained by lightning.  
"Because of this."  
  
  
***  
  
  
An eightlegged creature came out of a ray of light, it resembled a large spider, a thirty feet  
long spider...  
It was covered with armor layers of metal, on its back it carried several structures - antennas,  
reflectors and weapon turrets.  
It started moving, walking on its eight legs towards the group at the edge of the plain.  
  
"Shigen, what´s tat?" Katsuragi gasped.  
  
"A Matriel, a biomechanical creature", Thomas replied automatically. "A scout. We have to prevent  
it from contacting its base... Run, Katsuragi!"  
He pushed the older man into the direction of the vehicles that also had started to move and  
had near approached them.  
  
The roof of mobile four had opened, revealing a heavy gun emplacement. The large cannon aimed at  
the arachnoid, fired a blast of energy.  
  
The blast did no damage, for a moment the shield was visible that had stopped it.  
  
The scout answered the fire.  
  
Mobile four exploded, the blast threw the professor through the air and against mobile three.  
  
Thomas clenched his teeth.  
"Deiko, the bomb!"  
  
The blackhaired pulled the box from the sled and dragged it through the snow towards his position.  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"I..."  
  
The Matriel´s next energy blast crashed down right between them, throwing the greyhaired to the  
ground.  
When he was back to his feet and looked around, he heard his companion and one-time lover lowly  
moaning. Her right arm was just a mass of smashed bones.  
"Deiko, stay down... and hold on!"  
He turned his head towards the vehicles, saw that Katsuragi had been brought into mobile one  
and that mobile three´s turret was ready to fire.  
"Ikari, fire at the ice to its feet! Draw its attention away from me!"  
  
"Understood!"  
  
Thomas looked at the crate with the miniature N2-bomb, the crate had been damaged, the detonator  
had been separated from the bomb.  
Damaged... useless...  
Again he looked at the fast approaching arachnoid, it would have reached him within the next  
twenty seconds...  
So he started running to meet it...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Now:  
  
When Misato Katsuragi left the school this day - and pretented to ignore the gazes of her   
colleagues and some pupils - and walked to her car, she noticed again the dark car standing  
on the other side of the street.  
There he is again...  
She hesitated, looked at her own car and back to the dark one.  
Through the dark-tinted glasses she just barely was able to see the driver, the side-window  
had been lowered a bit so that she was able to see a part of his head.  
Who doesn´t dare...  
She smiled her brightest smile and walked across the street, approaching the dark car on the  
other side.  
"Excuse me..."  
  
The window was lowered completly.  
"Yes?" the driver asked with a friendly smile. He wore a bright blue shirt with a dark tie,  
and a dark jacket, his left hand was under his jacket on the level of his heart.  
  
"I am a teacher at the school here... You are not allowed to park here."  
She pointed at the sign.  
  
He seemed visibly calmer at once when he removed his hand from the jacket.  
"Ah, thanks for telling."  
But he didn´t seem to think about leaving.  
  
"Are you waiting for somebody - your son or your daughter?"  
  
"Neither nor, I have no children."  
  
She looked at his hands.  
Hm, no ring...  
"I´m just asking since I already saw you standing here yesterday."  
  
He winked.  
"I´m not allowed to talk about it. But say, why does a beautiful woman like you work as a   
teacher?"  
  
She looked at him with eyes wide open.  
"You are quite fast."  
  
He laughed.  
"I don´t like wasting time, I am sitting a half of the day inside of this car and look out of  
the window, so I have to grab any opportunity I´m given, eh?"  
  
Misato joined his laughter.  
"Now just say you´re a spy on a mission."  
  
"Of course I am." He winked again. "But tell nobody, yes?"  
  
She winked back.  
"Your secret´s save with me."  
  
"Great, you are saving my mission."  
He gave her his hand.  
"Ryoji Kaji. And I truely am a spy."  
  
"What?"  
  
He showed her his ID-card of the ministery of Interior.  
  
"Ah..."  
She dropped her jaw.  
  
"I´m sorry, I didn´t want to startle you."  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"If you really ar a teacher I may tell you."  
  
"Okay, okay, just a second..."  
She started searching in her bag for her ID-card.  
"Here. That proves it. And here´s my permission to use the teacher´s parking lot."  
  
"That´s more than I wanted to know", Kaji grinned and memorized her name and address.  
"Misato Katsuragi... you must be the best-looking teacher in town, or should I be in error?"  
  
"You are flattering me... obviously you know what a girl wants to hear."  
  
"Ah, no, I just envy your pupils, that´s all."  
  
Again they laughed.  
  
"And why are you standing her in no parking the second day now?" she finally asked.  
  
"I have orders protect one the pupils."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"That´s classified, my dear Miss Katsuragi."  
  
"How do you know that I am not married?"  
  
"I guessed... you are wearing no wedding band... and a husband wouldn´t let you teach at a  
school so that he wouldn´t have to share your beauty."  
  
"You are really quite fast."  
  
"Ah, but in fact I am very shy - you started by talking to my."  
  
"Oh, yes, now it´s my fault... So, you´re telling me, that you are some kind of bodyguard?!"  
  
"That would say it, yes."  
  
"And why? Is somebody planning to kidnap the pupil - whose name shall not be told - or worse?"  
  
He raised his hands.  
"You don´t have to fear the armed men´d storm the school or something like this. But I am not  
allowed to tell you, since I do not want to lose my job, even if I might die with boredom."  
From the corners of his eyes he noticed the person he was watching leaving the building and being  
about to vanish around the next corner.  
"So, Miss Katsuragi, I have to leave. Our talk was quite pleasant, maybe we could continue it  
one day."  
  
"I´d like to, Mister Superspy." she grinned.  
  
"So, well, have a nice day!"  
He raised a hand greetingly, then he started the engine of his car while she stepped aside.  
  
  
***  
  
  
With each second he was spending inside of the EntryPlug Shinji Ikari knew more and more that  
the reason for him mastering the EVANGELION-VR-game that fast was that he had had lots of  
training... but maybe training was the wrong expression, since training normally didn´t put  
one in mortal danger. By now he was sure that he had met the being called angels before - in  
orginal - with a real EVA...  
And he knew that he had fought side by side with Asuka and Rei...  
  
Destroying the nests of small Matriels had become routine, as had fighting the fish-like Gaghiels  
that had waited for them hidden in the waters of a flooded city.  
  
Without hesitation he opened a private com-channel to Asuka, whose EVA was just dragging Hikari´s  
EVA out of the water, the legs of EVA-09 had been eaten away up to the knees by the piranha-like  
fish-angels.  
  
"Asuka..."  
  
The redhead glared at him angryly and reached out with one hand.  
  
"No, please, don´t interupt the connection, I need to talk to you."  
  
"Oh, yes. Are you already having enough of your doll?"  
  
"Rei´s no doll, I don´t know how you came to this."  
  
Something was within Asuka´s eyes - surprise.  
"I... I don´t know, too..."  
She shook her head.  
"Probably you´ve infected me with your stupidity, Baka! Or another stooge did! But not Asuka   
Soryu Langley!"  
Again she reached out with her hand.  
  
"Asuka, wait!"  
  
"Okay, if you wish to apologize, I am willing to accept being the very forgiving person I am."  
  
"Who said that I wanted to apologize?"  
  
"So, what do you want then?"  
  
"Ah, say, Asuka, did you experience... within the last days... strange things?"  
  
"Strange... things?" she repeated.  
  
"Yes, like, well, memories of things that didn´t happen?"  
  
She frowned and looked at him as if he had grown a second head.  
Then she screamed:  
"Baka-Shinji, what kind of stupid **** are you telling me? Are you trying to tell me that I am  
just imaginating the whole thing with Rei? That little bitch made her move on you the very first  
moment she saw you! Do you think I truely let this happen?"  
  
He thought to feel the gust of air she was producing.  
"Why don´t you just let it happen? I do not belong to you! Rei´s interested in what I am doing,  
she like me that way I am while you can only scream or hit people!"  
  
"What I am doing..."  
She blinked, went silent, looked at him... hurt.  
Then she interupted the connection.  
  
"Oh, boy..." Shinji mumbled and felt terribly bad.  
  
  
***  
  
  
After finishing the scenario the six of them climbed out of the EntryPlugs.  
  
The gaze Asuka cast at Shinji wasn´t full of anger anymore, but... different...  
But she turned around before he was able to ask her.  
  
They walked towards the exit, Asuka and Hikari on one side, Shinji and Rei on the other, Touji  
and Kensuke between them.  
  
A middle-aged woman stepped into their path, she wore a darkblue skirt, a white blouse and a  
blue jacket, her shoulder-lenght hair was red-blonde, her smile seemed forced.  
The name-tag identified her as Midori Sekigahama, Manager.  
"Hello, you must be the six players who joined the league yesterday."  
  
"Yes, we are." Kensuke nodded.  
  
"I am Midori, the manager of the EVA-center at Tokio."  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Are you interested in participating at beta-testing some new modifications to the game? You  
could vote on the quality, tell you if you like it and other things. Of course you wouldn´t  
have to pay the entry-fee and you wouldn´t have to wait for an empty plug."  
  
Kensukes eyes seemed to glow.  
"That sounds great!"  
  
"Will we be able to gain points for the league?" Touji asked, surprising the others once again.  
  
"Of course. It´s more about new mission, new backgroundscenarios, new enemies and EVAs."  
  
"Like unit four-a, the one with retractable claws at its hands?" Kensuke asked.  
  
"Unit four-a will be a part of the modifications, we are just thinking about changing the   
terminology."  
  
"Wow!" Kensuke whispered and seemed ready to fell to his knees. He turned around. "Friends,  
lets do it! Boy, I just can´t wait to chat with other players over the ´net!"  
  
"Well, I have to ask you not to tell anybody, until the modifications are official" Midori  
stopped Kensuke.  
  
"Och."  
  
"Well, that´s the rules. Do don´t you to decide now, tell me tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,  
it´s just important that the whole team decides, since we want to test some team-missions."  
  
"Yes... well, you can count on me! EVA´s the greatest game of all!"  
  
Midori scanned the others, her gaze rested a bit longer on Rei than on the others.  
"Well, so tell me when you´ve decided, just asked for me and they will go and get me, okay?"  
  
The six nodded.  
  
The woman said goodbye and the small group left the center.  
  
"That really great!" Kensuke was truely happy. "Really! Joining the league on the first day and  
now asked to participate at the beta-testings! Great, isn´t it, Touji?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah", Touji mumbled whose gaze and attention was more directed at the legs of Hikari  
who was walking in front of him.  
  
At the next corner Shinji and Rei told the others goodbye. Asuka meanwhile was busy again   
casting dark glances at everybody while Touji said something that made Hikari frown.  
  
"I guess he´ll learn", Shinji sighed.  
  
"Touji´s just pretending", Rei explained with her monotonous voice.  
  
"Rei, could you... could you please..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Could you please stop speaking with that emotionless voice? You are making me afraid."  
  
She looked him shocked.  
"I... I can´t controll it... but I´ll try..."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"... for you..."  
  
"Rei, that..."  
  
She smiled at him in her special way, producing the same reaction like at the Fugotoyama...  
  
No...  
He clenched the lips, fought against the rise of the memories, didn´t want to reexperience her  
being ready to sacrifice her life for him.  
  
"Shinji", she whispered his name when he stumbled, grabbed his arm, held him.  
  
"It´s okay, I have it under controll."  
  
"Another memory?"  
  
"Yes, of your smile..."  
  
"Oh... Is it a pleasant memory?"  
  
"Yes... and no... I think, I´ve seen you smiling... Your smile´s beautiful... but there´s also  
the memory of fighting... Ramiel..."  
  
"An angel..."  
  
"You said: ´Goodbye´... I was such afraid..."  
  
She hooked her arm into his.  
"Shinji, if you want it, I will never say ´Goodbye´ to you again..."  
  
He swallowed.  
"That would be... uhm... really... pleasant..."  
  
"Good. Now, come, you still owe me an ice-cream because of today morning."  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Next: the last of the Katsuragi expedition * and the first wave...  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
@Nega-Darkwing: more about Rei´s origin next chapter... 


	9. Chapter 08 - Blood and Ice

Chapter 08 - Blood and Ice  
  
  
Fifteen years ago:  
  
"Shigen, are you mad?!" UN-captain Gendo Ikari, standing at the firing controlls of mobile three,  
screamed.  
  
"Keep firing!"  
  
The running man was surrounded by a halo of light.  
  
With shaking hands Ikari took the binocular and looked through the mobile´s front window.  
  
Two large angel-like wings were spreading from Thomas Shigen´s back...  
The light grew brighter...  
His red eyes burned with unholy fire...   
Directly in front of the arachnoid he stopped, shouted something.  
  
Ikari heard the words via the radio link, but he did not understand them. They made his head  
throb with each syllable. But he understood the meaning.  
A challenge...  
  
The answer was like a thunder roar, consisted of only one word, was clearly audible across the  
distance:  
"TABRIS..."  
  
And a wave of fire came from the giant spider, moving towards its opponent who was a dwarf   
compared to the creature. The fire hit him, moved over him...  
  
Shigen still was standing, fists clenched, protected by a glowing force field. He prepared  
his counterstrike, threw a sphere of pure destructive energy, followed it by jumping upwards  
with beating wings.  
  
"Keep firing!" Gendo ordered the gunner. "Aim at the legs!"  
  
The icy waste turned into an inferno when the sphere of energy hit the aranoid´s force field,  
when the energy blasts pierced the weakened field, cutting of the legs on the left side, when  
Thomas pushed a glowing hand into the Matriel´s belly and started a chain reaction.  
  
An explosion made the earth shake, the following lightning blinded Ikari for a moment.  
  
For a second he thought to see a giant humanoid within the firestorm.  
  
Then everything blurred, on the plain only layed the arachnoid´s carcass. A single human figure  
was slowly walking towards the vehicles, his body covered with heavy burns, a wound at the skull  
that would have outright killed an ordinary human, blue blood seeping from the wound...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Now:  
  
Shinji and Rei each sat in front of a large potion of ice-cream and had a good time while talking  
about this and that, preventing the topic of the surfacing memories.  
  
Rei told him about Osaka, her mother and her grandmother while Shinji told several stories about  
his uncle who had a farm where he had spent several summer hollidays. Most probably they would  
have talked for hours hadn´t the wiatress suddenly appeared and asked if you wanted for anything  
else, after they had finished the ice-cream.  
  
So they walked home, near the school their paths parted, but they stood at the corner for a while,  
still talking before each of them went his way.  
  
Meanwhile Ryoji Kaji sat behind the wheel of his car and waited.  
"Ah, boy, tell her goodnight, or give her a kiss... or walk her home... just start to move!" he  
mumbled since he felt the urge to empty his bladder.  
  
Of course the two didn´t hear him.  
  
"So, see you tomorrow, Rei-chan."  
  
"Yes. And just in case you had a... vision again... stay calm... wait a moment..."  
She pulled some paper and a pencil out of her bag, wrote something down.  
"Here, my address and my number, if anything happens, call me."  
  
"Uhm, Rei, that..."  
  
"It does concern both of us."  
  
"Yes... just a second..."  
He got a piece of crumbled paper from his pocket, asked her for the pencil and wrote down his  
number.  
"You already know where I am living."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How did you come to know it?"  
  
She smiled.  
"It´s writen down in the class file, available for everybody."  
  
"Oh", he said and looked sheepish. "Eh, it´s getting late..."  
  
"Yes."  
Suddenly she moved forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. It took a moment until he realized  
that she had just kissed him.  
  
"Ah... I..."  
  
"See you tomorrow!"  
She waved, then she turned around and ran down the street.  
  
Shinji was that confused that he did not notice the dark car that started to move and slowly  
rolled down the street.  
And she didn´t even pinch my nose...  
There is was again, the feeling of deva vu.  
No... not she... but who? Red... red hair... Asuka! Asuka did kiss me?  
The memory was accompained by the impression of suffocating.  
More a try to murder me...  
His confusion grew bigger with every second.  
But why did she kiss me?  
´Shinji, I´m bored...´  
Boredom... that would suit her... Rei kissed me because she likes me... and I just stood there...  
I´m such an idiot!  
At the same time he asked himself what he should have done - should he have embraced her like in  
the movies?  
He was still thinking when a small green car stopped in front of him, behind the wheel Yui Ikari  
sat.  
  
"Can I drive you home?" she asked.  
  
He raised his head.  
"Mother...?"  
Then he noticed her.  
  
"Come on, jump in!"  
She open the other door.  
  
"Yes."  
He walked around the car and took the assistant driver´s seat.  
"Is your shift already over?"  
Shiji looked at his wristwatch.  
  
"Not really, but we were unable to do our work with all the policemen at the institute..." she  
sighed.  
  
"Police?"  
  
"Yes, somebody broke into the building, we noticed it just at noon and I had to stay to check  
the archives."  
  
"And, what did they steal?"  
  
"Several tissue samples from the cooling room. And something that´s part of a project of mine.  
It´s a shame... without my datas the material´s completely useless."  
  
"And if... if the thief already has your data?"  
  
"What? That would be..."  
  
They drove home in silence.  
  
The finger and the samples - gone... Keel´s visit... may there be a connection? But what´s the  
meaning of the finger and why is somebody interested in it after all the time?  
She nearly missed the entry to the parking lot in front of the house.  
  
Gendo Ikari arrived about an hour later, reading the newspaper during dinner.  
  
Shinji sensed his father´s gaze resting on him again and again when he turned the pages. Gendo´s  
gaze was full of sorrow...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei met her mother at the apartment they shared when she came home.  
  
Ritsuko Akagi was cooking dinner with the cat moving around her legs.  
  
"Hello, Mom!" Rei shouted happily before vanishing in her room to change.  
  
Ritsuko looked up.  
"Rei, you seem to be quite happy, what´s up?"  
  
"Ah, everything´s alright!" Rei answered.  
  
"And your little friend, Shinji Ikari?"  
  
*rums*  
  
"Rei, what has happened? Are you hurt?"  
  
"No, Mom", she replied offended. "The chair´s fallen down."  
  
"Ah... So, what´s new?"  
  
Rei came into the kitchen, her face red like a tomato.  
"Shinji´s not my ´little friend´, Mom."  
  
"So... then maybe he´s your big friend?" she kept teasing her daughter.  
  
"No, that... Mom, how does it feel to be in love?"  
  
Ritsuko stiffed, turned around slowly, scanned Rei from head to toes.  
"Tell me, when did you grow up that fast? I remember telling you goodnight-tales... like it was  
yesterday. And now we have arrived at such topics..."  
She sighed  
"I guess it´s time for a long mother-daughter-talk, eh?"  
  
"Uhm..."  
  
"Well... hm, when one is in love... Rei, when you are thinking of this boy, what do you feel?"  
  
"It´s... a strange crawling within the stomach..."  
  
"Like butterflies?"  
  
"Butterflies? ... that might be correct... yes, like butterflies beating very fast with their  
wings."  
  
"And you are nervous?"  
  
"Yes."  
Rei looked down.  
"It´s difficult to stay in controll."  
  
Ritsuko sighed again.  
"Controll... you are alway trying to stay calm, keeping controll of your emotions... Rei, I´ll  
tell you something, since I do not want you to make the same mistake I did, yes?"  
  
"Yes, Mom."  
  
"Okay... You know this Shinji just for a few days now..."  
She thought to see something like protest on her daughter´s face, noticed her opening the mouth,  
but closing it again without speaking.  
"... so it´s a good thing that you are in controll of yourself. Well, you must know, I barely  
knew your father for three hours before... well, before it happened. You do know what I am   
talking about, don´t you?"  
  
Rei nodded in silence.  
  
"Good, so at least I don´t have to tell you that, it´s quite an awkward topic, isn´t it?"  
  
Again Rei nodded.  
  
"And the next morning he was gone... I haven´t seen him again... I guess he doesn´t even know  
about the consequences of this night..."  
  
"How was my father like?" the girl asked shyly.  
  
"Hm, difficult to say... I barely knew him... it was a wild time, I just had finished school and  
applied to university... just old enough to drink in public... I had a good friend at this time,  
Misato, we met at the campus, we had quite a good time... and one evening I met your dad, I  
remember quite clearly that he was sitting alone at the bar... I wouldn´t tell you today how he  
looked... but you have his eyes... I guess he was just as drunk as I was... well, one thing led  
to the next and nine months later..."  
She walked to her daughter and embraced her.  
"But I don´t regret it."  
  
"Thank you, Mom." she replied softly.  
  
"But I have to tell you to take care. You all are at an age with hormones running crazy and..."  
  
"Misato-sensei says that´s puberty."  
  
"Yes, right... wait, Misato-sensei? Your teacher has the same name like my old friend I shared  
a room with at university...?"  
  
"Misato Katsuragi."  
  
Ritsuki did a step back.  
"Yes... Rei... about that height, purple hair and quite... well, revealing clothing?"  
  
"Yes, Mom."  
  
"Well, that´s a conincident!" Ritsuko mumbled. "After your birth we lost contact. So, that will  
be a surprise! When´s the next teacher-parents-meeting?"  
  
"Wait, I go and get my notebook, there..."  
Rei broke off in the middle of the sentence, pressed both hands against the temples and bend down.  
  
"Rei, what´s going on?" Ritsuko shouted and caught her when she lost consciousness.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Deep below Tokio, within the Geo-sector, Selene Shigen experienced the same. The sector´s   
commander sat in the commander´s seat writhing with pain.  
  
"Chief, what´s wrong with you?" Makoto Hyuga asked who had just brought her some reports when  
it started.  
  
Selene groaned.  
"Thanks, Lieutenant... it´s okay..." she replied weakly.  
A thin stream of blood came from her nose and her eyes seemed to swim in blood due to some  
burst veins.  
"Could you bring me a glass of water?"  
  
"Of course, chief, I´m back in a second."  
  
Selene got up, supporting herself at her desk.  
  
A single drop of strangly coloured dark-red blood splashed on the metal, forming a surrealistic  
pattern.  
  
"Any activities at the gateway during the last minutes?" she asked with all the power she had,  
but still her voice was weak and low.  
  
Two level deeper captain Shigeru Aoba hectically was checking the readings of his terminal.  
"Sir, we´ve lost contact with base Antarctica... an extreme strong radio-signal seems to... ah,  
a moment, we are regaining contact!"  
  
The large screen brightened, showed the image of a bald black man wearing the uniforn of an  
UN-major.  
"Fortress calling headquarters, please answer!"  
  
Selene adjusted her headset.  
"Here´s headquarters. Major Banks, what happened?"  
  
"The portal´s energy increased without warning, then we got a radio-signal that strong that  
our systems went down."  
  
"Did something pass the gateway?"  
  
"Negative. The energy-output´s normal again now. MELCHIOR thinks that we have gained two additional  
days before it reaches full strenght."  
  
Selene nodded, noticed the Lieutetant who had brought her the glass of water.  
"Thanks, Major. Tell me at once if anything changes!"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Selene sat down and reached for the glass.  
  
"Shall I call for a doctor..."  
  
"That´s not necessary."  
  
"Yes, Chief."  
  
"Captain Aoba, was the signal recorded?"  
  
"Confirmed."  
  
"Have the MAGI decrypt it, if our ressources should prove unsufficient you can also use the  
three backup-systems at Osaka."  
  
"I´m already working at it!"  
  
Aoba turned to the metal flight of stairs that led down to the level of the Tokio MAGI-system.  
While the main system was placed at the fortress, the supercomputers SOKRATES, PLATON and  
ARISTOTELES had been placed at headquarters. Other systems existed at Osaka and the dockyards  
of Wilhelmshaven and the northamerican westcoast.  
  
Selene activated her com-device, calling her brother.  
  
It took several minutes before she got an answer and a small hologram appeared in front of her,  
showing Thomas who looked far worse than she did.  
  
"You felt it, too."  
  
"Yes, what happened?"  
  
"A strong impulse from the portal´s other side."  
  
He took a deep breath.  
"An activation signal... so they know where we are..."  
  
"Are you sure that it was an activation signal?"  
  
Thomas nodded.  
"I thought to hear the Imperatrix´ voice inside of my head..."  
  
"So we have to be prepared... the MAGI are decrypting the signal, maybe we get to know more."  
  
"Probably some Angeloi stayed behind..."  
  
"Yes... How are you?"  
  
He grinned, his face resembled a skull.  
"Bad", he said with monotonous voice.  
  
"Shall I send doctor Takanawa? She could be at Beijing within an hour..."  
  
"No, not necessary. Premiere Lau´s quite in a good mood."  
  
"If you say so..."  
  
"Any news from Germany?"  
  
"The ODYSSEUS´ ready to take to sea. We´ll get an UN convoi."  
  
"Good... that´s another step foreward... and any news from Antarctica? Did anything else happen?"  
  
"No. Except that we´ve won two additional days since the portal´s strenght has decreased a bit."  
  
"Lets just hope that we´ve truely won time and not additional trouble..."  



	10. Chapter 09 - Concern and Fear

Chapter 09 - Concern and Fear  
  
  
"No, it´s not an allergic reaction... no, it hasn´t happened before... Now, listen to me, my  
daughter´s suddenly lost conciousness and I do not have a clue why she did! I´m a doctor myself...  
So, will you come to my place, or do I have to bring her to you? ... yes, the place is...   
Thanks..."  
  
Like from far away Rei heard her mother´s voice from the corridor, then she slammed the phone  
down and return into the small living-room.  
  
"Ah, Mom..." Rei whispered weakly. It seemed to take eternity and use up all her strenght reserves  
to open her eyes.  
  
"Shhh. Stay down, dear. The doctor´s already one the way."  
  
"Yes..."  
Her head ached as if she had been hit by a heavy object at the forehead.  
  
"I was that terrified... How are you?"  
  
"Weak... and my head hurts... that..."  
She raised her head a bit, saw stars and thought the headache was growing tenfold, so she laid  
back her head.  
"What is it, Mom?"  
  
Ritsuko´s voice was full of concern and fear when she answered.  
"I don´t know, the doctor´ll be here soon to bring you to the hospital for a check-up."  
  
"Yes."  
Rei suppressed a shivver. She hated hospitals...  
  
  
***  
  
  
The checks had brought up no results, the scans of Rei´s skull showed neither injuries nor   
bleedings, the bone were whole.  
  
"So, why did she suffer a break-down?" Ritsuko asked the doctor.  
  
The man shrugged.  
"Well, the scans do show no physical reasons. The checks of her blood sample should be finished  
soon. Was your daughter under pressure the last days?"  
  
"Well, no."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Now, we just moved to Tokio from Osaka... everything´s new to her, a new school, new faces...  
the first boyfriend..."  
  
"Hm, that might be a reason for pressure, but she seemed to me quite resistent to this."  
  
"Yes, she is, that´s the reason for me to be concerned... see, during her childhood she never  
was really ill, well, a cold here, a flu there, but nothing serious, yes? And we get along quite  
well, she tells me nearly everything."  
  
"You are raising her on your own?"  
  
Ritsuko nodded.  
  
"Shall I call the father?"  
  
"No... I wouldn´t know how to reach him anyway."  
  
"Understood... Ah, the results of the blood checks... hm, everything´s okay, no drugs, nothing  
that shouldn´t be there..."  
  
"My daughter doesn´t consume drugs, doctor!"  
  
"I´m sorry, I didn´t want to offend you, Miss Akagi."  
  
"Okay, so, why did she just, well, fell down?"  
  
"To be honest - I don´t know. At best we´ll keep her here for the night."  
  
"I... okay. May I see her for a moment?"  
  
"Sure, just go."  
  
Ritsuko entered the room where Rei was laying in the hospital bed, wearing a white nightshirt  
with blue spots.  
  
"Dear, how are you?"  
Ritsuko sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked her daughter´s hair caressingly.  
  
"Better, a bit. The headache´s no that strong anymore."  
  
"Good. The doctor said physically you are fit, but they want to keep you here for the night.  
That means I´ll drive home, take a free day tomorrow and return tomorrow morning."  
  
"Yes, Mom, but you don´t have to take a free day, you just started working at the institute."  
  
"Doctor Ikari´s quite understanding. I will have to compensate by doing an extra shift or  
something like this, but that shouldn´t be a problem."  
Ritsuko smiled.  
"Since the day you were born this is your first night at a hospital. Alas, they won´t let me  
stay."  
  
"Thanks, Mom, I don´t know what I´d do without you..."  
  
"Ah, Rei, that... Say, the doctor told me that pressure might have been the reason for your  
breakdown, is this possible?"  
  
Weakly Rei shook her head, any stronger movement would have caused her headache to increase.  
  
"And it had nothing to do with this boy, Shinji Ikair?"  
  
"No, Shinji would never give me grief."  
  
Ritsuko frowned because of the conviction and the love in her daughter´s voice.  
"Rei... did something happen between you and this Shinji I should know about? You remember the  
talk we had..."  
  
"Mom!" Rei said with weak indignation. "I´m not old enough for that!"  
  
Ritsuko blinked.  
Beaten by the own arguments... It seems that my daughter is getting too clever for me...  
She sighed silently.  
"Good. Just promise that you will take your time and don´t let yourself pressed, okay?"  
  
"Shinji never would..."  
  
"You seem to be quite sure of that."  
  
"Yes." Rei whispered.  
  
"Rei, I´m no expert in human relationships, god knows, or you´d have a caring father... but doesn´t  
this all proceed way too fast? You do know him just a few days."  
  
"To me it seems like I´d know for an eternity."  
  
This time Ritsuko´s sigh was audiable.  
I have a teeny-daughter in love... what have I done to earn this?  
"Yes... But I´d like to meet him on occassion, if that´s not asked for too much."  
  
"Mom!" Rei protested, wanted to sit up, distorted her face and herself fall back again.  
  
"Rei, has it got worse?"  
  
"No, but I just though my head would explode."  
  
The doctor looked into the room after knocking at the door.  
"Miss Akagi, my shift´s ending in ten minutes, you can stay here for this time, but then I have  
to ask you to leave."  
  
"Yes, thanks, doctor."  
  
The man nodded, he seemed to be quite understanding.  
"I´ll tell doctor Mizuno of the night shift to look after your daughter once in a while." He   
looked at Rei. "And you, young lady, will push the red button by your bed should the headache  
get worse."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Okay."  
With a smile on his face he closed the door.  
  
"You heard him, Rei, I have to go. But I´ll be back tomorrow morning and drive you home."  
  
"You don´t need to be concerned for me, Mom."  
  
"But I do, I´m your mother, it´s part of the job. So, and before I forget - I´d like to get to  
know your friend, have no fear, I won´t give you a reason to be ashamed."  
  
Rei nodded with a feint smile.  
"Okay."  
  
"Well, see, mother knows best."  
Ritsuko winked and gave her daughter a goodnight-kiss on the forehead, then she left the room.  
  
A moment later a nurse came in, wished Rei a good night and turned off the light.  
  
Rei laid within the darkness for a while, staring at the ceiling, while the hammering behind  
her forehead slowly got weaker. Finally she closed her eyes and fell asleep.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Meanwhile Ryoji Kaji had taken position on the corridor, his ID-card of the ministery of interior  
and his unusual rejecting face prevented other people from asking questions.  
The Chief was quite terrified when I told her the reason for the girl´s stay at hospital...  
He prepared himself for long night...  
  
  
***  
  
  
The loud beeping of the alarm-clock pulled Shinji Ikari out of his quite pleasant dreams about  
Rei and him sunbathing, he had just started to oil her back...  
Blindly he pushed the clock from the nightboard, it landed on the floor where it continued  
to beep.  
  
Shinji gave a mixture of moaning and sighing when he finally gave up, pulled his head out from  
under the pillow, sat up and reached for the alarm-clock.  
"And all of this because of Asuka who still believes that she has to be angry at me..."  
The day before he already had been late for school since Asuka lived at the floor above, did not  
woke him up as usual.  
Still sleepy he walked into the bathroom.  
While he got ready to face the day he heard the phone ring, than he heard fast footsteps that  
seemed to belong to his mother.  
  
"Ikari... Ah, doctor Akagi... yes... hm... yes... yes, it´s okay, take the day free... no, no,  
if the reason´s not clear... we mothers have to stick together... yes, good... I will remind you...  
´bye!"  
  
Shinji turned around and opened the bathroom´s door.  
"Mother, who called?"  
  
Yui stood in the apartment´s corridor and looked at him surprised.  
"Oh, you really managed to get up by your own... That was a collegue of mine from the institute."  
  
"Doctor Akagi?"  
  
"Yes, if I remember correctly you and her daughter are visiting the same class."  
  
"Yes, yes, Rei."  
  
"Hm, she just wanted to tell that she won´t come to work since her daughter´s at hospital."  
  
Shinji´s eyes tripled their size - at least.  
"What´s up with Rei? What?"  
  
"She didn´t tell me."  
  
"And which hospital?"  
  
"Well, the next one, I guess. Why are you asking?"  
  
But Shinji had already vanished in his room, put on his trousers, came back into the corridor  
and put on his shoes.  
  
"Don´t you want to eat something?" his mother shouted.  
  
"No, I have to know what´s up with Rei."  
  
In the kitchen Gendo let go of the newspaper.  
"Shinji!" he screamed without warning, at the same moment the apartment´s door slammed shut.  
  
Startled Yui let go of her cup.  
"Gendo, why are you shouting?"  
  
"I knew that this girl means trouble, I knew it." he mumbled and got up. "I have to go, my shift  
begins in thirty minutes."  
  
Yui suppressed a cursed noone would have thought her to know.  
  
  
***  
  
  
In the staircase Shinji nearly ran into Asuka who stood in front of the Ikaris´ door and seemed  
to think about ringung the bell.  
  
"Ah, can´t you be careful, Baka-Shiji!" she gave him her common greeting.  
  
"I have no time, Asuka!" he said while passing her.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked surprised, at the same time to thought to hear Shinji´s father  
shout his son´s name from within the apartment.  
  
"Rei... Rei´s at hospital, I have to see what did happen to her." Shinji said, already two floors  
lower. "Could you please bring me the homework of today?"  
  
"Yes." she said surprised, then her temperament resurfaced. "Hey, does this mean you are not going  
to school? Because of Wondergirl? Why should I..."  
The building´s door slamming shut told her that he couldn´t hear her anymore.  
"Baka-Shinji... run, run to her... yes, run..."  
She didn´t know why she was behaving that rejectingly whenever the topic came to Rei, since she  
and Shinji had been good friends who had been grown up together... but why did she always feel  
a sharp pain in her chest when she saw the two being together?  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Do you have a Rei Akagi here?" Shinji breathless asked the nurse at the reception.  
  
"I look... Akagi... Akagi, Rei... yes, since yesterday."  
  
"Which room?"  
  
"Are you a relative?"  
  
"No", he answered while a small part of himself struggled against it, the part that had seen too  
many of the alternate memories to stay neutral.  
  
"Station 12, room 402, but asked the station´s nurse first, yes?"  
  
"Yes." he nodded and ran to the elevator.  
Room 402...  
Die number made him remember new facts. And he heard his own voice within his head.  
An unfamiliar ceiling...  
  
  
***  
  
  
When Ritsuko heard somebody asking about her daughter she frowned and turned around.  
  
At the station´s nurse´s desk stood a boy of about fourteen years with darkbrown uncombed hair,  
wearing blue jeans and a bright shirt.  
  
  
***  
  
  
After the nurse had given him the wanted information Shinji wanted to walk down the corridor.  
  
"I just heard that you are here to see my daughter?"  
  
Shinji turned his head, in front of him stood a woman with brightblonde hair and a birth mark  
at the corner of her mouth.  
She seemed familiar...  
"Ah, uhm, yes... Are you Rei´s mother?"  
  
Ritsuko nodded.  
"And you are?... maybe Shinji Ikari?"  
  
"Eh, yes... How does it come that you know my name?"  
  
Ritsuko smiled.  
"And how does it come that you know that she´s here?"  
  
"I heard you talking to my mother."  
  
" - and you came her at once..."  
Astonishing... and I thought Rei would exaggerate...  
  
Shinji nodded hastingly.  
"What´s wrong with her?" he asked concerned.  
  
"She lost her conciousness for a moment yesterday. Do you happen to know what might have been  
the reason?"  
  
"N-no", he stuttered.  
Another memory? That hard that she had a break-down?  
  
Why is he stuttering suddenly? Does he know something or is he just concerned?  
Ritsuko looked at him for a moment then she decided not to asked further questions.  
"Come, lets look after her."  
  
When they entered Rei´s room, Rei´s eyes brightened up.  
"Shinji..."  
In spite of her not very elegant hospital clothing she jumped out of the bed and ran to the boy,  
arms spread to embrace him, but she stopped directly in front of him when she noticed her mother  
and lowered her arms.  
"How..."  
  
"Hallo, Rei." Shinji said and smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Now, look who I met on the corridor. Don´t you say hello to your mom?" Ritsuko said.  
  
"Sorry."  
Rei embraced her mother.  
  
For a moment Shinji stared at the low-cut back of her nightshirt, blushed heavyly and turned  
his head away. This was noticed by Ritsuko.  
  
Rei turned to Shinji who pretended to look out of the window.  
"What are you looking at?"  
  
"Uh, nothing."  
  
Laughing Ritsuko Akagi handed her daughter a bathrobe that had been hanging at the door.  
"Better put this on, your friend´s a bit of shy."  
  
"Mom!"   
  
"Okay, okay."  
She did a step back.  
"And, how are you?"  
  
Rei touched her forehead for a moment.  
"The headache´s gone."  
  
"Good, well, I´ll go and ask if you can leave."  
She nodded at Shinji.  
"So you can talk undisturbed for a moment. But behave!"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
Still laughing Ritsuko left the room after placing a beg next to the door.  
  
Reiu put on the robe.  
"You may look now, Shinji-kun."  
  
"Uhm, yes."  
  
"Why do you feel embarressed?"  
  
"It is... I respect you, Rei... and if I´d stare at you, while you... ah..."  
  
"While I walk around like Misato-sensei?" she asked with a crooked smile and sparkling eyes,  
sat down on the edge of the bed, showing a lot of her legs.  
  
"Eh, yes, if I´d stare at you that barely would a sign of, uh... respect..."  
  
She looked at him for a moment, then she nodded.  
"And what if I wanted you to look at me?"  
  
Shinji turned deep red, stuttered syllables without sense.  
  
Rei laughed.  
"Shinji, please, I do not want to embaress you again."  
  
"Yes... Rei, why are you here? Your mother said something about a break down..."  
  
"I felt suddenly a terrible headache, at the same time I thought to hear a loud voice screaming  
directly inside of my head... and then I regained consciousness on the couch. But now everything´s  
alright again."  
  
"Did you... I mean... did you have another vision?"  
  
"No, no further memories... and you?"  
  
"Neither... or... some pieces, a word here, a thought there."  
  
"Hm, how did you come to know of me being here?"  
  
"Uhm, your mother called mine and I heard them talking and I asked her who had called and she..."  
he bubbled.  
  
Rei raised her hands defensivly.  
"Okay, okay, I can imagine... And you came at once..."  
She looked into his eyes and smiled her very special smile, the smile just reserved for him, the  
smile she gave him after the victory over the angel Ramiel at Fugotoyama mountain.  
  
He shook his head.  
Wrong... I am seeing this smile for the first time...  
  
"Shinji?"  
  
"Nothing, just..."  
  
"... a deja vu", she finished the sentence in his stead.  
  
"Yes. Don´t worry."  
  
"Shinji, it pains you, so I worry, it´s like breathing..."  
  
"Rei..."  
  
She still was smiling.  
"You came at once... didn´t even comb your hair... and a button of your shirt´s still unbuttoned..."  
  
"Äh..."  
  
"Shinji, that´s such a nice thing..."  
  
"I..."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"I couldn´t do anything else... it was as natural as breathing..."  
  
"And I thank you for it... Shinji, I... I remember... it´s dark and your arm´s around my   
shoulders... something just happened, you were afraid for me... and you tell me that one day  
we would think it´s good to be alive..."  
  
"Rei, that..."  
Her words dug up his own memories of another life.  
She´s talking about what happened after I had destroyed Ramiel and got her out of unit zero´s  
EntryPlug...  
  
At the moment Ritsuko returned, noticed the strange gaze they were looking at each other with,  
as if they shared a common bond only they were able to notice, as if they shared a secret that  
wasn´t meant for Ritsuko.  
At first she felt dejected and almost jealousy, then she sighed in silence.  
The first love...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Misato Katsuragi counted her pupils, found two of them missing, identified the missing one to be  
Rei Akagi and Shinji Ikari.  
"So, her mother called me and told me that Rei´s ill. Can somebody tell me what´s up with Shinji?"  
She wrote down a note at her list next to Rei´s name.  
"Asuka, do you know something?"  
  
Asuka got up.  
"Ahm... Shinji´s ill, too", Asuka explained after hesitating for a moment. "Probably he´s got  
the same Rei has."  
  
"Hm, okay, tell him, I want a written excusion."  
  
"Yes, Sensei."  
She sat down again.  
And now I am lying for that baka!  
  
"He, Asuka", Kensuke who sat behind her whispered.  
  
"What do you want, stooge?"  
  
"Did they spent the night together and were to tired for class?"  
Kensuke giggled, imagening it and wishing to have been there.  
  
Asuka only wished for a gun...  
  
  
  
  
End of stage one  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: Asuka vs. Rei - Death Match !!! 


	11. Chapter 10 - Death Match

Stage 2 - NERV  
  
Chapter 10 - Death Match  
  
  
After a long day at work Misato Katsuragi left the school building and walked towards the  
parking lot.  
  
Secretly she was looking forward to talk to Ryoji Kaji who had called himself a spy of the  
ministery of interior in a secret mission, and turned her gaze to the other side of the street.  
  
The the place where his car had been yesterday and the day before was empty. Misato felt   
disappointed.  
  
A pity... Maybe I would have made him invite my for dinner... Is he truely a spy? The ID-card  
he showed me looked real... Hm... and if the pupil he has to watch didn´t appear to school  
today...  
  
At once she remembered Shinji Ikari and Rei Akagi who both had missed school due to illness.  
  
Ikari und Akagi... eh... Akagi...  
Before her mind´s eye a picture of her old friend Ritsuko Akagi appeared she had share a room  
at university with until Ritsuko had to do an unexpected pausing.  
Considering her age she might be Ritsuko´s daughter... ah, no... that would be a way to big  
coincident...  
  
She sighed lowly and went to her car.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Let me carry this." Shinji offered and took the bag with Rei´s cloths from the day before.  
  
Ritsuko let it happen, suppressing an agreeing nod.  
Well mannered boy... he doesn´t look like his mother very much, probably he more resembles his  
father. Rei seems to have a better taste in boys that I had...  
She remembered her first boyfriend and how fast they had broken up.  
He´s neither three years older than her, nor does he wear biker-leather and I´m sure he doesn´t  
smoke, too. One could get envious...  
Again she noticed the secret looks most people freshly in love used to exchange when they thought  
to be not watched.  
Like they had a secret... sweet...  
The next moment she called herself to control, since she had decided to think relationsships to  
be illogical it might destroy her whole view of the world to move away from this opinion.  
She turned to the doctor she had met last evening.  
"And, doctor, may Rei leave?"  
  
"The checks came to no new results, the headache´s gone, so I see no reason to keep her here  
anymore. I´ll give you a recipt for some pills against headache, but don´t be afraid to come  
back if she feels bad again."  
  
"Of course. And thank you."  
She nodded at Rei and took the lead while the two teenagers walked behind her.  
  
At her car Ritsuko asked:  
"Shinji, can I give you a ride home? So you don´t have to walk."  
  
Before the boy could answer, Rei said:  
"Could he come with us? I´d like to show him my room and then we could look at some old photographs  
like the ones of Osaka, my last birthday..."  
  
Ritsuko laughed lowly.  
"Shinji?"  
  
"Uhm, yes, I´d like, if it´s no trouble."  
  
"Ach, it´s not, maybe I´ll even go to work today."  
Rei seems to have him quite under control if he´s willing to look at the old pictures... or is  
it more? Ritsuko, you are becoming paranoid...  
  
  
***  
  
  
When Shinji returned home at late afternoon, his father was already waiting for him.  
  
"Sit down", Gendo Ikari said and pointed at one of the chair by the kitchentable.  
  
"Yes, father."  
  
Suddenly he felt very intimidated. Within his fantasy he saw his father with dark tinted glasses  
and a completly emotionless face.  
  
"I must talk to you."  
Gendo sighed. As areaction the image vanished before his mind´s eye and was replaced by the  
caring father he was used to talking about anything with.  
"Can you guess the topic?"  
  
Shinji didn´t have to think long and hard.  
"Rei."  
  
"that´s one thing. Do you like that girl very much?"  
  
"Yes, father."  
  
"Hm... and what if I tell you that she means trouble, great trouble?"  
  
"Is she in trouble? That must be a misunderstandig, Rei´d..."  
  
Gendo raised a hand to calm him down.  
"The troubles more farreaching than you can imagine. You visited the EVA-center of Tokio the last  
days?"  
  
Shinji found by the sound of his father´s voice that didn´t really expect an answer. But he nodded.  
"Yes, Rei, Asuka, Touji, Kensuke, Hikari and I."  
  
"I know."  
  
Shinji was taken my surprise, his father was working for the government, how did he come to know  
about his activities?  
"How... what´s the connection between the EVA-center and Rei?"  
  
Ikari placed the ellbows on the table and his chin on the folded hands.  
"Shinji, there are things about my work, that are classified... but, son, I am afraid for you."  
  
"Father, what...?"  
  
"You got the attention of some very powerful people, most probably they will talk to you and  
the others soon and give you a choice... I am not allowed to tell you anymore, but I hope that  
will make the right choice."  
  
"Father... what´s that all about?"  
Shinji smiled to lighten the situation.  
"Now, don´t tell, that some aliens called angels are going to attack earth and a few children, able  
to pilot some giant mechas called EVANGELIONs were humanity´s only hope."  
His try failed...  
  
Gendo turned chalk-white, when paler than Rei.  
"Shinji, how..."  
At the same time he recognized that Shinji´s words hadn´t been meant seriously. He tryed to hide  
his reaction behind a smile.  
"Listen, don´t tell anybody, neither mother nor anybody else, yes?"  
  
"I... yes, father. Are you trying to tell me to stay away from the EVA-center? So I won´t go there  
anymore. Just don´t tell me not to see Rei anymore, please."  
  
"That wouldn´t make much sense, would it? And about the center... it´s too late... well, and your  
girl-friend... I guess your mother would like to meet her. Since she already met Suzuhara and  
Aida, she shouldn´t be able to be shocked anymore... she can only be surprised positively."  
  
"Uhm, yes."  
  
"Good."  
Gendo got up.  
"Well, that´s all."  
  
The doorbell rung.  
  
"I´ll go!"  
Shinji jumped to his feet and ran to the door.  
  
Other other side Asuka stood, handing him a bunch of papers.  
"Here, the homework."  
  
"Thank you."  
He took the papers.  
  
"The lower bundle is Rei´s."  
  
"Asuka, that..."  
Shinji blinked.  
"Thank you", he repeated.  
  
"Don´t make it a problem, yes? Hikari made me. So... was it worth not going to school?"  
  
"Uhm..."  
  
"Well? How is Rei? Does she have to stay in bed with high fever or what?"  
  
"She´s already feeling better... just... I guess it what the pressure of moving and stuff..."  
  
"So? Well, that makes her appear human", Asuka mumbled thinking.  
  
"Does that mean you´re going to get along with her now?"  
  
Asuka glared at him.  
"Maybe... So, if she´s feeling better, she should come to the EVA-center tomorrow, since we did  
really miss you two... with only four players the six-player-scenario´s impossible to beat."  
  
"So, ahm,... well..."  
He remembered his father´s words.  
  
"Come, you owe me! I told Misato-sensei you were ill, too... She asked me to greet you and tell  
you that she needs a writen note of excuse signed by your parents..."  
  
"Oh dear..."  
  
Asuka smiled sheepishly.  
"I did not expected this, too... Hey, Shinji, lets do the homework together."  
  
"Ah, yes,... But I have to bring Rei her copies before..."  
  
Asuka sighed.  
  
"I´ll give you a ride after you´ve finished your homework", Gendo said from inside of the   
apartment. "And I´ll also write this note for you... but only this one time, next time you´ll  
have to explain it to your mother."  
  
Shinji, who had twitched at first, suddenly had a smile all over the face when he ran back into  
the kitchen and embraced his father who returned the gesture with a sorrowful smile.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei opened the apartment´s door.  
"Shinji?! Did you forget something?"  
  
"Uh, no, quite the different. Here, copies for you."  
  
"Oh, thanks, would you like to enter?"  
  
He shook his head.  
"My father´s waiting downstairs with the car. But there´s also a note, at the top, about today´s  
topics."  
  
"Yes... That´s Soryu´s... Asuka´s hand..."  
  
"You recognize it?"  
  
"Ja."  
  
"She brought me the stuff an hour ago... and yours too."  
  
"That´s... strange..."  
  
"Ahm, yes... one the other hand Asuka´s never really angry at someone for long - that means if  
that someone survives long enough."  
He grinned broadly.  
  
His grin seemd to be infecting.  
  
"And, ah, will you come to the EVA-center tomorrow?"  
  
"If you come, yes."  
  
"Good."  
  
Ritsuko Akagi came out of the bathroom.  
"Rei-chan, who is it? - Oh, Shinji! - Well, as it seems you are unable to be seperated!"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
The next day during lunchbreak Misoto looked from inside of the teachers´ room through the window  
at the street.  
Outside it was raining heavily.  
  
There´s his car again...  
  
Some minutes later she walked across the parking lot, an umbrella in one hand, a trey with two  
mugs of hot coffee in the other one.  
  
Kaji lowered the window.  
"Ah, Miss Katsuragi, somehow I´ve hoped to see you today."  
  
"May I enter your car, Mister Superspy?"  
  
Kaji laughed.  
"Of course."  
He opened the passenger´s door.  
  
Carefully Misato climbed into the car, balancing the trey.  
  
"What are you bringing?"  
  
"Coffee. I thought, you might need one."  
  
He took one of the mugs.  
"Oh, you´re an angel, Misato... ah, may I..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"So, please call me Ryoji."  
  
"Hm, Kaji sounds better, I think, more mysterious..."  
  
"Ha!"  
He took a sip.  
"Oh, it´s good."  
  
"I guess you still won´t tell me today who you are watching."  
  
"No."  
  
"Ikari or Akagi?"  
  
"Please, don´t keep digging or one of us has to leave this car."  
  
"Okay, okay."  
  
"Misato... would you like to have dinner with me this evening?"  
  
"Oh, that... hm... yes, I´d like."  
  
"Good, I´ll come and get you. About eight o´clock?"  
  
"Yes... Do you know, where I live?"  
  
He nodded.  
"Look into the compartment."  
  
"What?"  
She opened the compartment, her eyes widened when she saw the gun inside.  
  
"The file at the top."  
  
"Yes... That´s my picture... you have my file?"  
  
"Eh... Will you still have dinner with me?"  
  
"This depends on what´s written inside..."  
  
"Nothing critical."  
  
"Do you always check the background of somebody you going to have dinner with?"  
  
"No, only if it´s linked to my work."  
  
"So it will be a work-dinner?"  
  
"I think, I can seperate work and private things."  
  
"Hm, there´s nothing about my wild youth within your file."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Ah, I see, that would interest you... Maybe I´ll tell you this evening."  
  
"So we´ll have our date?"  
  
"Eight o´clock. Be punctual, Kaji!"  
  
"Oh, I will be!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei was sitting inside one of the EVA-VR-game´s EntryPlugs and waited for the scenario to start.  
  
More of the screens lightened up. REi was surprised to see that Asuka had opened a private channel  
to her.  
  
At the same time the main screen came to life, showing a giantic oval arena with countless   
EVANGELIONs of all models sitting on the ranks as spectators.  
  
"Asuka, what´s going on?"  
  
"The arena-mode was activated yesterday. Are you ready?"  
  
"Ready for what?"  
  
"I think we should fight it out, just the two of us."  
  
"But what?"  
  
"Just you and me, winner gets Shinji."  
  
Rei´s eyes tripled their size.  
"What?"  
  
"If I win, you´ll leave him along. And if you win, you´ll be yours, it´s that easy."  
  
"Shinji doesn´t belong anybody!"  
  
"If you think so,,, Well, are you ready?"  
  
"I..."  
Rei noticed that an armament building had opened behind her.  
"Asuka, that´s nonsense!"  
  
"I don´t think so. Come, chose your weapon!"  
  
"But why should we fight each other?"  
  
"I want to know who´s the better one... and don´t forget, if - if - you win, I´ll leave you and  
Shinji alone."  
  
"Hm..."  
Rei frowned.  
"Okay."  
  
Asuka smiled sure of her impending victory when she made her red EVA draw a two-handed-sword  
from the armament building.  
  
Rei tryed to open a channel to the others, but couldn´t connect.  
She was left on her own. A feeling of loneliness overcame her, teared at her heart.  
The vision of an empty run-down building...  
Loud noise...  
Loneliness... Coldness... Emptiness...  
  
"Rei, what´s up?" Asuka asked challengingly.  
  
Rei looked up.  
I can´t allow myself to be distracted...  
Slowly she turned towards the armament building, choose an one-handed sword and a large shield.  
"I am ready."  
  
The EVAs were facing each other from opposing ends of the arena.  
  
In the center of the arena a man wearing a dark suit appeared. From above, out of the virtuel  
clouds a microphone came down at a rope, which the man took elegantly.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the fight of the century! In the left corner´s the prototype  
EVA-00 and its pilot, Miss Rei Akagi, counting 79 destroyed angels and 2 failed missions. In  
the right corner´s the series model EVA-02 and its pilot, Miss Asuka Soryu Langley, counting  
9 destroyed angels and one failed mission. Let´s get ready to rumble!"  
The microphone was pulled upwards back into the clouds and the man disappeared in a whirl of  
bits and bytes.  
  
I didn´t thought her to be that good...  
Asuka swallowed.  
She really must have trained a lot in Osaka...  
  
The two giant marched towards each other.  
  
Asuka reached out with the swordarm in a greeting gesture.  
  
Rei answered the gesture, the blades touched lightly.  
Then EVA-00 took a defensive position, ready to dodge with the shield.  
  
Asuka charged at once with powerful strikes and slashes with Rei slowly withdrawing step for  
step.  
"Come on, Wondergirl, defend yourself!"  
The next thrust pierced Rei´s defense, smashed the shield and cut off unit zero´s arm at the  
ellbow joint.  
  
A short pierching pain moved up Rei´s arm, was unconsciously channeled into ignorance.  
Highest synch-ratio... she though. What? - There´s no synchronisation of pilot and EVA, it´s  
just a game...  
  
Asuka´s next slash nearly hit her EVA´s head but Rei managed to move out of harm´s way and to raise  
her own sword to meet Asuka´s blade.  
For Shinji...  
Suddenly she felt anger raising within herself.  
She wants to take Shinji away from me...  
Rei moved to counterattack.  
  
Asuka took a step backwards, kept Rei away with mighty swordthrusts.  
  
Rei changed her tactics, offered Asuka the unprotected side of her EVA, let herself fall to the  
ground at the last moment and thrusted her blade upwards into the red EVA´s belly.  
  
EVA-02 let go of its sword, pressed its hands onto the wound.  
  
On the screen Asuka´s face twisted with pain.  
"Urgh... That felt like a kick to the stomach..."  
  
EVA-00 kicked at the legs of unit two, sent it the ground, jumped up staggeringly since the  
missing arm influenced the mecha´s balance.  
  
Asuka opened her eyes widely when she saw unit zero suddenly standing over her, sword ready to  
deliever the deathstroke.  
"Go on, you´ve won, now finish it."  
  
"You accept your defeat?"  
  
"Yes." Asuka pressed the words through her lips.  
  
Rei threw away her sword, offered Asuka a hand to aid EVA-02 getting up-  
"I don´t wish to inflict further pain... I´d rather like to be your friend."  
  
"What?"  
Asuka looked at her speechless.  
  
  
***  
  
  
At the controll center Midori Sekigaha looked over Keichi Aida´s shoulder.  
  
Large sweatdrops had formed on Kensuke´s uncle´s brow.  
"Is it really necessary to increase the synch-ratio, Major?"  
  
"We are testing the level of psychic pressure."  
  
"But one of the pilot´s my nephew."  
  
"I know." she answered sharply. "Akagi´s data are quite interesting, she has reacted very   
impressing to the pain, like she had been trained to..."  
  
"May I finish the test?"  
  
"No. Send a Zeruel into the arena. And activate the other pilots´ interfaces."  
  
"Do you really think that they are ready to face such an opponent?  
  
"They have to... they just to be ready..." she whispered bitterly.  
  
  
  
***********************************************************************************************  
  
  
  
Next: Berserker * Hate * And a kiss... 


	12. Chapter 11 - Rei IV / I remember dying

Chapter 11 - Rei IV / I remember dying  
  
  
Shinji´s EntryPlug´s main screen brightened.  
"What´s that?" he mumbled surprised.  
  
EVA-01 was sitting on some kind of stand, together with countless other EVANGELION units, looking  
at some kind of oval arena.  
  
Inside of the arena EVA-00 and EVA-02 were facing each other.  
  
Shinji just knew that the units were piloted by Rei and Asuka.  
"What´s going on?"  
He tryed to reach them via radio but got no answer.  
The faces of Touji, Kensuke and Hikari appeared instead on his display.  
  
"Stay calm." Toui suggested.  
  
"What´s going on here?"  
  
"Asuka challenged Rei to a duel to make some things clear."  
  
"What? But that´s..."  
Shinji stared into the arena, tryed to get up and storm down the stands and intercept, but EVA-01  
did not react at his commands.  
  
"That´s the duel-mode", Kensuke explained. "We are only watchers."  
  
"That´s nonsense! Why should they be fighting?"  
  
"Well, because of you..." Hikari whispered.  
  
Shinji looked at her, one hand reaching for the ´Off´-button on the console.  
"Because of me?"  
  
Hikari nodded.  
  
"Why?"  
  
She sighed and asked to change to a private channel.  
  
Shinji agreed.  
"What are you trying to tell me, Hikari?"  
  
"Asuka´s afraid of losing you."  
  
"What? I..."  
  
"She thinks that Rei´s going to take you away from her, that you won´t have time for her anymore."  
  
"But... Hikari, you must be wrong, Asuka would never..."  
  
"How long do you know her by now?  
  
"Since..."  
He thought about it.  
Since we move from Kyoto to Tokio... since we are living in the same house... since...  
He realized that he was unable to give a set time, that he nearly had answered ´since she  
arrived with EVA-02 from Germany´.  
"For a very long time." he finally replied.  
Those memories... those strange visions partly seem to be more real than my right ones...  
or are they the truth and everything else´s a lie? Why? Why do I see this? How is this possible?  
  
Hikari seemed to interprete his silence in another way.  
"She thinks, that since you are seeing Rei now, you wouldn´t be her friend anymore."  
  
"Why? Why shouldn´t I be her friend anymore? We´ve grown up together. But... She never told me  
that she´d like me..."  
  
"You are her Baka-Shinji... you´re her best friend. And now Rei comes and she thinks her to be  
an enemy."  
  
"She doesn´t have to... I like Asuka... but not the way I like Rei..."  
  
"I know."  
  
"You know?"  
  
"Hey, I´m class-representiv, I have to know, it´s part of the job. Rei and you, it´s like you are  
made for each other... like you were two halves of the same soul..."  
  
Like someone being a part of me... a longtime missing part...  
"That..."  
  
"But Asuka doesn´t like to lose, she doesn´t like opposition... I think she probably doesn´t   
even realize it but you are like a brother for her. Just think about it."  
Hikari changed to the common channel again.  
  
Inside of the arena an american wearing a dark suit meanwhile had appeared.  
  
"Wow, that´s Michael Buffer!" Touji shouted.  
  
"Who?" Kensuke asked.  
  
The gaijin said some words and fight begun.  
  
Both EVAs had armed themself with swords, with Rei´s unit additionally using a large shield.  
  
Asuka charged, pushing Rei back.  
  
Shinji screamed when EVA-02 smashed the other EVA´s shield arm.  
"Asuka, stop it! Why do you want to hurt Rei?"  
  
But the luck of combat had already changed when Rei dodged Asuka´s attack and the tip of her   
blade suddenly poked out of EVA-02´s back. The red EVA went down to the ground.  
  
Rei prepared for the deathstroke, but hesitated, the blade´s edge at the other EVA´s throat.  
  
"What are they doing?" Touji asked.  
  
"Talking." Hikari suggested.  
  
EVA-00 lowered its blade, threw the sword away. - And offered EVA-02 the hand.  
  
For a moment neither EVA moved. Than EVA-02 reached for the offered hand and let itself helped  
to the feet.  
  
Shinji closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a Zeruel stood inside of the arena...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Within a blur of energy another figure appeared inside the arena, a dark giant with long thin  
arms that at once walked towards the two damaged EVAs.  
  
"Rei! Asuka!" Shinji screamed and moved the controlls.  
Not again...  
Before his mind´s eye he saw the angel cutting off first EVA-02´s arms and than the head, before  
throwing EVA-00 through the Geofront.  
Not again...  
Rei, hurt... Asuka, slowly descending into madness...  
Not again...!  
  
"Hey, what´s going on? That´s not part of the scenario!" Kensuke shouted.  
  
The Zeruel grabbed EVA-02, threw it away like a broken toy. A white whip-like arm cut off EVA-00´s  
legs at the knees.  
  
"No!" Shinji screamed.  
And EVA-01 reacted, jumped up from the bench, climed across the stands, pushing away the other  
simulated spectators to reach the arena.  
  
An EVA-03 and an EVA-04 unit also started to move, followed by an EVA-09 unit.  
  
"Hang on! We are coming!" Shinji shouted, drawing the progressive knife while jumping into the  
arena.  
  
EVA-02 was back on its feet.  
With loud curses Asuka charged the enemy, directly running into the whirling arms. Her curses  
were replaced by a long scream.  
  
"Asuka!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
"We should stop, Miss Sekigahama!"  
  
"No, Mister Aida, not yet..."  
Midori watched the screens, her gave finally fixed to the transmission from Rei Akagi´s EntryPlug.  
Those eyes...  
She opened the files with the data collected about the First Child.  
Born nine months after the gateway opened for the first time... nine months after Thomas nearly  
died at the southpole...  
She bit her lips.  
Bloodtype... strange... that...  
She raised a hand, touched one the screens, opening further files.  
Nearly onehundred percent similarity... this can´t be...  
Anger rose within her.  
"Mister Aida, raise the synch-ratio of port four."  
  
"But that´s not part of the program!"  
  
"I have to find out if those children are able to pilot a real unit, so it´s part of the testing  
program NOW!"  
  
Keichi didn´t notice that his superior´s eyes were glowing in a deep red for a second.  
"Yes..."  
  
And inside of her EntryPlug suddenly felt terrible pain after the Zeruel had cut off her EVA´s  
legs...  
  
Midori smiled, but just for a moment.  
"Turn it off... remove port four from the net!"  
  
"Yes, yes, at once."  
Keichi Aida´s hand seemed to have a life of their own when he entered the commands.  
  
Rei had nearly lost consciousness.  
  
"Miss Sekigahama? Major?"  
  
Midori didn´t answer, just starred at her shaking hands.  
I wanted to kill her... just because of a suspicion...  
  
"Major, look! The reports from port seven!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Shinji Ikari..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
EVA-01 appeared in front of the Zeruel like an angry angel of vengence, dodged one of the  
whip-arms, smashed with the shoulder into the angel.  
  
A moment later their shields touched and the Zeruel´s gave way. EVA-01 slashed its opponent open  
from head to groin, ripped the arms out of the sockets, reached into the angel´s open wound,  
dragging its innards out.  
  
With an ´urk´ Touji turned of his plug...  
  
  
***  
  
  
"The readings are incredible... beyond the instrument´s capability... even the AT-field´s  
simulation has been activated!"  
  
"The boy can form an AT-field? That´s unbelieveable..."  
Midori Sekigahama stared at the screens.  
"He beat the Zerual... alone, without help... without problems... That... Call Lady Selene! We´ve  
found the pilot of unit one!"  
  
"Yes. And the other children?"  
  
She swallowed.  
"They are also to be recruited. We won´t get such a chance a second time!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Shinji, that´s... ill..." Hikari commentated when EVA-01 finally stopped, a leg of the Zeruel  
in its hand with the rest of the carcass distributed across the arena.  
  
"Yes..." Kensuke said, smiling nervously. "Just remind me of never argueing with you..."  
  
That´s not real... it´s not real... it´s not real...  
Shinji´s hands were shaking even being pressed against his chest. He had drawn his knees up to  
his chest. The main screen had gone dark.  
It´s not real...  
Again and again he saw the angel breaking into the Geofront, beating down the two defending  
EVAs, entering NERV-headquarters before he had intercepted with EVA-01... the battle raging  
across the Geofront... EVA-01 bersering... devouring the angel...  
It´s not real...  
He sobbed, didn´t notize that Touji had opened the hatch.  
  
"Ah, man, you look like shit", Suzuhara mumbled. "Kensuke, give me a hand here..."  
Touji entered the EntryPlug and grabbed Shinji by the shoulders.  
"Come, buddy, I´ll help you... you completly lost it..."  
  
"Touji, I... I... it hurt Asuka... I heard her screaming..."  
  
Touji nodded with serious face.  
"Yes, it did."  
He pulled Shinji out of the plug.  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Shinji shook his head.  
"I don´t want to ever do this again... I will never climb into an EntryPlug again!"  
  
"I can understand you, I thought it to be the truth for a moment, too."  
  
"Touji, it is..."  
He interrupted himself, his friend wouldn´t have believed him.  
His legs were shaking, he had to support himself at the EntryPlug to prevent falling.  
The memories... they´re getting to me...  
He saw Asuka leaning against her plug.  
"Are you...?"  
  
She nodded weakly.  
"Yes. But there suddenly was pain... everything was way too real."  
  
He turned his head.  
"Rei!"  
Stumblingly he ran to the next plug, its hatch had already been opened by Hikari.  
"Let me..."  
He pushed her aside, climbed into the plug.  
  
"Say, where are all the people who are working here?" Touji asked and looked around. They were  
alone, as it seemed noone else was at the second level of the center.  
  
Through a hidden door Midori Sekigahama, the center´s manager, stepped.  
"There are been an accident with the computer system, we had to turn it down. But your controls  
didn´t accept the commands before the mission was finished."  
  
"Mission? We did not run a mission-scenario!"  
  
"No, you didn´t. But the computer had changed the parameters. I´m sorry."  
She looked at Asuka.  
"Has anybode been hurt?"  
  
Asuka just glared at her. If looks could kill...  
  
Shinji knelt inside of the plug next to Rei.  
  
She looked at him with tired eyes.  
"Shinji..."  
  
"Yes, Rei-chan, I´m here. Come, I´ll help you..."  
  
"Shinji... I remember... I remember everything..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
They left the center, promising each other not to return that fast to this place again.  
Onky Kensuke seemed to be disappointed, but he had been the one cheered at EVA-01 when it ripped  
apart the angel.  
  
Shinji felt stunned, he nearly didn´t notice Rei taking his hand.  
  
"We´ll talk at my place." she decided.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
Asuka turned around to them.  
"Shinji, I just wanted to tell you... I behaved quite stupid... But I think Rei and I have come  
to terms."  
  
"That´s... good."  
  
She smiled.  
"Just promise me to stay my Baka-Shinji, yes?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Shinji sat sunkenly on Rei´s bed in her room with Rei sitting on a chair and looking at him.  
  
"I said, that I´d remember everything..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Again silence fell, again they just stared at each other.  
  
"Shall I tell you?"  
  
"Rei, I... I don´t know, what I want... I think, I am losing my mind... And at the same time I   
know those memories to be real and my own memories to be wrong and..."  
  
"It´s a result of the Third Impact..."  
  
´Death or rebirth...´  
"Death or rebirth..." he whispered, repeating the words of the voice that only existed in his  
head.  
Shinji pressed his hands against his head.  
"It shall stop...!"  
  
Rei got up, walked over to him, looked at him, reached out with her hands, touching his cheeks,  
lifting his head while bending down to him.  
"Maybe... probably there are other ways... but this one is the most... pleasurable..."  
And so she kissed him...  
  
And Shinji´s world vanished in a hail of countless coloured lightnings when the memories of   
another life returned to his mind...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Panting he pushed himself away from her, interrupting the kiss, fall from the bed and stayed  
down of the floor knees drawn up to his chest.  
  
Rei went into the knees next to him, caressed his hair.  
"It´s difficult..."  
  
"Y-yes... So it is true?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"So this world does just exist for a few days?"  
  
"This world was created during the Third Impact. You had the choice... humanity might have  
ascenced and become a godlike being, a collective of souls..."  
  
"I decided against..."  
  
"You didn´t want to, wished to keep your individuality... to keep the barriers of your soul   
erected... and by doing this you prevented the completion of humanity."  
  
"So it´s my fault..."  
  
"No." she whispered and caressed his cheek.  
  
"You were the only one who had a choice, the others didn´t have."  
  
"Why are we here?"  
  
"You created this world when humanity´s complete ability of creation was at your disposal."  
  
"I did?"  
  
"You wanted to create a better world..."  
  
"Yes... a world without sorrow and pain... without war... without angels... without EVAs...  
so why does all of this still exist?"  
  
"Since they also were in your heart... like I was..."  
  
"Rei...?"  
He blinked, looked at her with reddened eyes.  
  
"Because of you I am alive. It was my purpose to initiate the Third Impact and unite the souls,  
but you denied me dying by not allowed me to fulfill my purpose..."  
  
"Since... since I didn´t want to give up my body..."  
  
"Yes. Because of me being unable to unite your soul with the others. And because of your resistance  
making the other souls return. You wanted a better world... a world for me to life in..."  
Her eyes filled with tears.  
"And for that I am thankful."  
  
He sat up, reached out with one hand, wipped a tear from the corner of her eye.  
"Please, don´t cry."  
  
"These are tears of happyness."  
  
"Rei... I remember now, too... mostly it´s still blurred, but some things are clear... I remember  
who you are... or were..."  
  
"Yes", she answered with closed eyes. "Even being Rei Akagi here and now, there I was Rei Ayanami,  
a clone of your mother, someone you might have accepted as a sister... and I would understand if  
nothing changed about this... could understand, if your heart would turn towards Asuka now..."  
  
"No..." he whispered softly. "If that´s correct, and I was able to... change the world... why didn´t  
I made you my sister in this reality? Why did we meet again? And why did... I... fall... in..."  
He hesitated.  
"Rei, at the... old world... before you sacrificed yourself fighting the sixteenth angel... why  
did you do it?"  
  
"To protect you."  
  
"Like before... but why?"  
  
"You know it."  
  
"Yes, Rei. I l..."  
  
She put a finger to his lip.  
"No, don´t say it... not now... just hold me."  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: The MAGI are infiltrated by the enemy * The PROMETHEUS reaches Tokio * And: Kaworu... 


	13. Chapter 12 - PROMETHEUS

Chapter 12 - PROMETHEUS  
  
  
Ritsuko Akagi entered her apartment and closed the door.  
Her gaze fell upon two pairs of shoes.  
So, Rei´s already at home... and someone else?  
"Rei, I´m home!" she shouted while taking off her own shoes.  
  
No answer.  
  
Hm...  
She casted an eye into the kitchen, then into the living-room.  
Nobody there...  
Ritsuko walked to the door of her daughter´s room and knocked.  
"Rei, it´s me!"  
  
Again no answer.  
  
She frowned.  
"I´ll enter in a second, so better tell me now if I shouldn´t..."  
She waited a moment, then she opened the door.  
  
In the middle of the room her fourteen-year old daughter and her boyfriend, the same aged Shinji  
Ikari stood in a very intense hug, like the other one would be a safety anchor.  
  
Ritsuko cleared her throat.  
"Do I disturb you at something?"  
  
Neither of them reacted, each had the face burried at the other one´s shoulder.  
  
Akagi reached out and touched her daughter´s shoulder softly.  
"Rei?"  
  
She twiched when touched, finally looked up.  
"Mama..." she whispered.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Thomas Shingen seemed tired when he entered the Tokio-EVA-center´s control room. But within his  
remaining eye a fire burned that bright that it was even visible through his contact lense.  
  
Midori Sekigahama, the center´s manager and recruiting officer of NERV, turned around with  
surprise.  
"You are back from China..."  
  
"One day earlier than planned, yes. I wanted to be here when Falk arrives with the PROMETHEUS  
and the clones."  
His face hardened.  
"I have to talk to you - alone."  
  
"Yes, so..."  
She pointed at her bureau´s door.  
  
He nodded, followed her, gave his companion, Deiko Tamakura, a short sign to wait.  
  
"So?"  
Midori looked at him, suppressed hate in her eyes.  
  
"I looked at the reports of our pilots´ last missions. First I noticed that they haven´t visited  
the center for days now. So I inspected the last reports closely again. - Who ordered the use  
of a Warrior-class-Zeruel?"  
  
"I did."  
  
"Why?"  
His voice was sharp as a blade.  
  
"To test the childen´s abilities. The success proved me right!"  
  
"Oh, no... And why was the synch-ratio of the First Child and her plug raised to the limit, having  
her suffer complete synchronization with a heavyly damaged unit?"  
  
"I..."  
  
"Why?" he whispered, producing the same effect as if he had shouted at her. "WHY?"  
  
She twitched.  
"As a part of the test... her resistance to pain..."  
Unconsciously she was rubbing the back of her neck.  
  
"Don´t lie to me! Why?"  
  
"Don´t you know it by yourself?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
She started to laugh.  
"When did you become such a cold-hearted bastard?"  
  
Thomas shook his head.  
"The day you told that our son´s death was my fault..."  
A shadow fell across his face.  
"Midori, you are released from your duties."  
  
"You can´t do this! For fifteen years..."  
  
"Oh, yes, I can. Your actions are unpredictable and unstable! We have no use for somebody here  
who cannot stay in control of herself!"  
  
"Cannot stay in control? We can´t be as cold as you are..."  
  
"Cold? You are accusing me of being cold?"  
  
"Yes, I do, Warlord!"  
She laughed again.  
"Born to kill, made to conquer humanity... and what does happen? You are joining us... and those  
idiots at the UN-council don´t even know who you are, who... what the man is they are placing  
all their hopes in. Shall I tell them? Shall I tell them that the man they might even trust with  
their children is an Angeloi himself? Shall I?"  
  
"You must be crazy", he whispered.  
  
"No, I never seen things cleared than now. The man I once loved never existed at all. Why did I  
got pregnant? Did you try to create another one of your kind? Or just a suitable pilot for your  
precious silbings?"  
Again she was rubbing her neck.  
  
Thomas looked at her shocked.  
"How can you... I loved our child..."  
  
"You killed him. Genetical incompatibility... I hate you!"  
  
"And all the years..."  
He took a deep breath. Then he walked to the door and opened it  
"Major Sekigahama, you are relieved of your command. You are under arrest until I decide otherwise."  
he told her before the assembled staff.  
  
Deiko looked at him shocked.  
"What happened?" she whispered.  
  
"She broke..." Thomas replied and lowered his gaze.  
  
In his back his former life´s companion laughed...  
  
  
***  
  
  
A large, deep and broad river parted the Geofront below the city of Tokio, the waters came out  
of a large gap in the wall and vanished at the other side into the ground, where the Geofront was  
connected to the ocean via a series of submerged caves.  
The pyramid of the NERV-headquarters had been erected at the river´s beach next to large docking  
installations.  
  
Thomas Shigen, his constant companion Deiko Tamakura, operation commander Selene Shigen and  
the leader of the tactical staff, Colonel Gendo Ikari stood at a large window on one of the  
pyramid´s upper floors and watched the river.  
  
"There...!"  
Deiko pointed at the hole in the ground where the waters vanished.  
  
At the same time it was reported via the speakers that the PROMETHEUS had reached the Geofront.  
  
Something was coming... a large shadow appeared out of the hole, visible from a far.  
  
"They are here." Selene mumbled.  
  
Gendo stepped closer to the window.  
"The ship´s bigger than I imagined."  
  
"It has to to transport the clones."  
  
"PROMETHEUS reaches docking-bay."  
  
The leviathan emerged, at first only a dull metal stump showed out of the water, than the mighty  
main-deck appeared, than the cargo-containers.  
  
Selene touched her headset.  
"Unload the cargo."  
She turned to the others.  
"I am going."  
  
Thomas nodded.  
"I´ll join you in a few minutes."  
  
Mighty hatches opened at the top sides of the containers. Inside of them where humanoid giants,  
one yellow and white, the other one purple and green.  
  
"Unit one", Gendo whispered with hoarse voice. "My son is going to pilot it, isn´t he?"  
  
Thomas nodded again.  
  
"Is there no other way?"  
  
"Colonel, I´d do it myself... but I can´t after what happened at the south-pole... I lost too much  
of myself fighting the Matriel. Your son is able to form an AT-field, the mightiest weapon the  
clones can wield."  
  
"But he´s just a child!"  
  
"Yes... an innocent... one of those we should protect..."  
  
"So, this is the prize for you rescuing him ten years ago."  
  
"No, Ikari. It´s destiny..."  
  
The cranes of the docking-bay lifted the EVANGELIONs out of the containers and loaded them onto  
heavy transport cars and vanished into the basement of headquarters via ramps.  
  
"... as it is destiny that you discovered this place, Colonel. I will talk to the children and  
their parents the next days, that much I owe them... the possibility to chose... If your son  
agrees to come with us to antarctica, you´ll be able to stay close to him, I promise."  
  
"That..."  
Ikari looked at him for a long time.  
"Talk to my wife, you already know what I am thinking about it."  
  
"Good."  
  
  
***  
  
  
When Lieutenant-Colonel Roderick Falk left the PROMETHEUS he was already expected by Selene.  
They embraced.  
  
"Good, to finally see you again, Selene."  
  
"Yes. How was the journey?"  
  
"Nothing happened. Changing to dive-mode caused no problems, the same is to be said about the  
stealth-mode. The engineers did a great work, I am nearly sorry to give up the command."  
  
"Captain Tamakura doesn´t seem to be able to wait any longer entering the bridge."  
  
Falk laughed.  
"We are well within the schedule. When the ODYSSEUS arrives in a week with the other two units  
we can join the UN-convoi heading for the Antarctic. So, any problems here?"  
  
"Midori..."  
  
"What´s up with your second-in-command?"  
  
"Well, she tryed to kill one of the pilots."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Don´t ask me. She´s in a holding cell at the moment."  
  
"And thee pilot?"  
  
"Has recovered. But maybe we lost the candidats as a result."  
  
"That would be... disastrous."  
  
"Thomas asked me to leave it to him."  
  
"Hm..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Captain Shigeru Aoba looked up to the bridge, the top level of the high tower.  
"Chief, the MAGI have managed to decrypt the signal partly."  
  
Selene nodded.  
"Continue!"  
  
"How many systems are busy with decoding?" Falk asked.  
  
"Well, our MAGI-system here, that´s SOKRATES, PLATON and ARISTOTELES, as well as one of the  
systems at Osaka. And Diane´s also working at it."  
  
"Well, since your arteficial intelligence needed a week to decrypt the first layers of the code  
I guess I need to offer my own abilities."  
  
"Ah, a few years did pass by since the CIA trained you, husband. I fear you´d be of no use."  
  
"At least Talbot isn´t straining my nerves anymore."  
  
Aoba looked up from the screen.  
"Chief, trouble!"  
  
"What?"  
Selene got up.  
  
The order of the lower levels had turned into an ant-hive-like chaos with techs running around.  
  
"A virus! Obviously it was part of the signal! By decrypting it we activated it!"  
  
"State?"  
  
"Virus is tying to take control over SOKRATES and PLATON! Now it is tying to access the system  
at Osaka via the data stream!"  
  
"Disconnect at once!"  
  
"That... that can´t be... the virus seems to have an intellect of its own!"  
  
"Selene!" Falk hissed.  
  
"Yes, an Angeloi-construct... and we downloaded it to our own main system... - Aoba, disconnect  
the infected computers!"  
  
"Confirmed! Confirmation from Osaka, Diana stopped the virus from accessing the MAGI there...  
The AI is downloading itself into our system via data link eight..."  
  
"State of the infected systems?"  
  
"PLATON´s offline, SOKRATES refuses to deactivate! Virus is entering ARISTOTELES! Selfdestruct-  
sequence has been initiated!"  
  
"Evacuate the Geosector! Have the PROMETHEUS prepare for taking to sea! Have the clones brought  
to the surface via route five!"  
  
"I´ll take care of the ship!"  
Falk left the control center.  
  
Next to Selene the hologram of Diane appeared.  
The metallic face was overshadowed by colums of figures.  
  
"Diane?"  
  
"I´m working at it. The virus´ tough! It´s downloading data, I can´t determined where it is  
sending them."  
  
"Which kind of data?"  
  
"Operations and installations..."  
For the very first time the AI showed an emotion - fear...  
"It´s adapting!"  
  
"Countdown to selfdestruct: One minute! PROMETHEUS has submerged! EVAs are on their way to the  
surface. 80% of the Geofront are evacuated!"  
Aoba didn´t look up. His fingers were dancing over the keyboard.  
"I am connected to the german branch... the hacker unit is ready to enter cyberspace via the  
VR-link!"  
  
"No, the virus would kill them!" Diane whispered, her face showing the strain. "I´ll try to push  
it back to SOKRATES, the MAGI-unit will have to be deactivated manually!"  
  
"Captain Aoba..."  
  
"Understood, Chief!"  
  
Shigeru hastly climbed the ladder to the MAGI-level, followed by two techs.  
"We still have 40 seconds. - Remove the covering!"  
  
"Done! I´ll keep it there as long as I can!"  
  
"Diane!"  
  
"Covering removed!"  
Aoba and his men removed several parts of the MAGI´s interior.  
"Connections A-01 to A-15 disconnected!"  
He removed another covering, found a lever.  
"Ready for manually destruction of SOKRATES!"  
  
"Do it!"  
  
Aoba pulled the lever, jumped back, protecting his eyes and face with an arm.  
  
Lightning shot out of the computer, followed by smoke.  
  
"Done!"  
  
At the same time the hologram blurred and vanished.  
  
Selene did hesitate for just a second.  
"ARISTOTELES, disrupt self-destruction-sequence!"  
  
"Order accepted", Aoba whispered, reading the screen. "Selfdistruction aborted... This was close..."  
  
"Good work, Captain... Stop the evacuation. Have PLATON brought to the lab, full quarantine!"  
  
"Confirmed."  
  
"This was truely close... well done, Diane", Selene mumbled. She got no asnwer. "Diane? - Aoba,  
check if Diane managed to leave SOKRATES before we blew it up!"  
  
For a moment Shigeru just stared. He knew the AI better than his last three girl-friends taken  
together.  
"Working at it! No traces of her within the memory of ARISTOTELES... Wait, activity within the  
mainsystem at Osaka! The backup-files are opened!"  
  
The hologram reappeared next to Selene. In a strange way Diane seemed incomplete like she had  
lost substance.  
  
"Diane?"  
  
"Recognizing: Selene Shigen, commanding officer of NERV-tactical-headquarters at Tokio. Alpha-  
ranking. Waiting for orders."  
  
"Diane, what´s your state?"  
  
"Heavy damages within sub-algorhythms."  
  
"Chief, Diane´s emotio-algorythms are nearly gone", Shigeru said. "I´m tying a reconstruction  
using the back-up data. And the hacker-squad´s also working at it."   
  
"Good... if there are traces of the algorhythms, they will find them."  
  
"Irrelevant." Diane said emotionlessly. "Emotions are unnecessary."  
  
Selene decided to ignore her.  
"Tell them to hurry up. - And find out wher our data have been sent to!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Yui Ikari opened the apartment´s door. In front of her Ritsuko Akagi stood with a blue-haired  
girl Yui didn´t know that was holding the hand of her son, Shinji.  
"Doctor Akagi."  
  
"Good evening, doctor Ikari. I wanted to bring you your son."  
  
"Eh, yes. What´s up?"  
  
Shinji was just staring apathically.  
  
"Shinji, what´s wrong with you?"  
  
"Nothing, mother."  
Shinji let go of Rei´s hand, looked at her for a moment, then he walked by his mother, dragging  
his feet towards his room.  
  
"Shinji... - Akagi, what..."  
  
"I don´t understand it, too. When I returned home I found him and my daughter, both seemed to  
be in a state of... shock... Well, Rei told me that they had been at this EVA-center in the city   
and that an accident had happened there."  
  
"But... First, thanks for bringing him... What did happen?"  
  
"Neither of them told me by now. I wanted to call a doctor, but..."  
  
"That´s not necessary." Rei said with monotonous voice.  
  
Yui looked from her to Ritsuko.  
  
The older Akagi shook her head.  
"She´s mostly talking like this."  
  
"Ah... Come in..."  
Yui stepped aside.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Shinji laid on his bed knees drawn up to his chest, his whole body shaking.  
His eyes were closed, he was sleeping, had fallen asleep the moment his body had touched the  
sheets. And he was dreaming...  
  
This world´s my doing... created when it was within my power... but what´s happening now...  
why do the EVAs exist? Why angels...?  
  
"Nothing´s perfect", a familiar voice whispered.  
  
In his dream he opened the eyes, saw a grey-haired boy with pale skin and red eyes standing in  
front of him.  
"Kaworu! You´re alive!"  
  
The other one smiled.  
"I do exist within this reality... but you wouldn´t recognize me."  
  
"How do are mean this?"  
  
"Unimportant, my friend... So, you´ve seen the truth."  
  
"Yes. I possessed the creational power of all humans... and..."  
  
"And this world is the result."  
  
"But why isn´t this world the way I wanted it to be?"  
  
"Because of the power you had was tained with the wishes, the longing of others. Countless  
individuals created this world, not just not being like it would have been the case had the  
Third Impact happened as planned... no, not feel guilt, there was no other way for you..."  
  
"I don´t understand..."  
  
"It was your power... but power brings responsibility... are you ready to face responsibility  
for your creation? Are you willing to protect it?"  
  
"Kaworu, I do not understand!"  
  
"Soon, soon you will understand."  
The boy started to vanish.  
  
"Kaworu, stay, please... Don´t go!"  
  
"Here´s no place for me anymore, except within your heart. Don´t forget me."  
  
"I never will."  
  
"We will meet again... if you recognize me..."  
  
"Kaworu!"  
  
He woke up...  
  
  
***  
  
  
In the kitchen Ritsuko had her daughter tell the events of the last days for the second time.  
Rei didn´t mentioned her memories of another reality.  
  
"And today there had been a feedback within this EntryPlug, yes?"  
  
"Yes, Mom."  
  
"You were hurt!"  
  
"Not really. It was just a... simulation."  
  
"But it hurt! I am going to sue them!"  
  
"But what has Shinji to do with it? Why does my son walk around like a ghost?" Yui asked.  
  
"He was startled." Rei explained.  
  
"I was." it came from the door.  
  
Yui turned around, saw her son standing in the door. The colour had returned to his face.  
"Shinji!"  
  
"Everything´s alright, Mother."  
He smiled.  
"Thanks, doctor Akagi, for driving me here."  
  
Hesitatingly Rei rose from her chair and walked up to him.  
"Are you really... alright?"  
  
Their eyes met when she stopped directly in front of him.  
"Yes." he replied with unshaking voice. " And I´m glad that you are here."  
  
Rei smiled, understanding the special meaning of his words...  
  
Ritsuko looked at Yui.  
"Do you think too, that we are disturbing them?"  
  
Rei turned her head.  
"Mom!"  
  
"Hm, I think she´s alright now."  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: Recruitment * And a glimpse at earth´s future... 


	14. Chapter 13 - Enlistment

Chapter 13 - Enlistment  
  
  
Thomas Shigen gave his two dark coats wearing bodyguard a sign to stay behind while he entered  
the building where two of the children lived with their parents. Only Deiko Tamakura stayed by  
his side.  
  
He wore a long dust-grey coat above his white UN-parade-uniform without insignias of rank, while  
his companion wore a darkblue uniform with the insignias of a ship´s captain under her coat.  
  
"And you truely want to do this?" she asked when they entered the stairs.  
  
"I have no other choice. I owe this to the children after what Midori did to them."  
  
She sighed.  
"Your code of honor keeps surprising me. And what if the parents - or children - oppose your  
plan?"  
  
"Then it will be this way... then will we have to control the clones remotely."  
  
"We both know that this won´t work. And Diane´s not completly efficient, we should just forget  
the DummyPlug system."  
  
"Right. And that´s the reason for me doing anything within my power to convince them."  
  
"Thomas, you can barely walk straightly... No, don´t try to deny it, I can see it. For fifteen  
years you are growing weaker day by day."  
  
"You are right." he just said and continued climbing the stairs. "I am becoming human... But  
fighting the Matriel at the pole damaged my ability to adapt, my ability to regenerate won´t be  
able to keep up with the decay much longer. That´s irony, isn´t it? But at least my sister  
succeeded at this task... I´m just glad that the clones don´t have the same problem I have."  
  
"The clones... if Takanawa would have more time she might be able to devellop another weapon  
against the Angelois´ AT-field."  
  
"Yes... and maybe she could even find a cure for me... Deiko, I do not have this time, in a  
way it doesn´t matter much if we are able to prevent an invasion or not, at least not for me."  
  
"Sarcasm?"  
  
"Grim humour", he whispered. "I´d just like to know what the activation-impulse did..."  
  
"You think that some Angeloi-constructs still exist on earth?"  
  
"We... They once ruled this world, enslaving the first humans. The Geosectors and the Deep Cities  
are prove enough. The POLARIS-satellites keep scanning for blue patterns, but I fear they won´t  
be able to detect constructs of an early stage."  
  
"It´s your field of expertise."  
  
"Yes... Here we are - that´s Shinji Ikari´s place."  
  
"The boy... I remember."  
  
"Yes... ten years ago my powers were enough... Wait here, yes?"  
  
"Okay, Elder Brother."  
  
He smiled.  
"You haven´t called me this for a long time, Little Sister."  
He reached for the bell-button.  
  
"Good luck."  
  
The door was opened.  
  
"Yes?" Yui Ikari asked.  
  
Thomas showed her his ID-card.  
"Thomas Shigen, I´m in the service of the United Nations. Doctor Yui Ikari?"  
  
Yui looked at him questionly.  
"Yes, that´s me. How can I help you?"  
  
"It´s about your son... May we talk inside?"  
  
"I... Yes, please enter."  
She lead her guest into the kitchen.  
"May I offer you something? Tea, maybe?"  
  
"No, thanks."  
  
"As you wish. But sit down. It´s about my son, you said? How do you mean this?"  
  
"Doctor Ikari..."  
He sat down, folded his hands.  
"I do belong to an organisation ordered by the UN to defend earth against... certain enemies.  
Your son has abilities that might us fulfilling our mission."  
  
"Shinji? What are you talking about?"  
  
Thomas sighed.  
"It´s difficult..."  
Slowly he raised the hand to the leather-patch covered eye, moved the patch aside.  
Behind it was just an empty socket with bones partly uncovered. Within the socket´s depth a feint  
red glow pulses.  
"Look", he whispered...  
  
And Yui saw...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Earth seemed to have fallen prey to a giant uncontrolled growing mold, once blue oceans with white  
clouds had turned into a chaos of brow, black and purple, while the continents were just grey  
spots within, covered by deepblack clouds.  
At different places the planet itself had been ripped open, and from within these never healing  
wounds magma flooded to the surface...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Thomas moved the patch back to its place.  
  
"What... what did you do?"  
Yui Ikari had to support herself at the table to prevent falling from her chair.  
  
"I showed you the future... or better a possible future, something my organisation is going to  
prevent from happening."  
  
"No... I mean... how did you..."  
  
"I showed you what I can see..."  
  
"Who... who are you?"  
  
"Well, you should know best since you are analysing my DNA for eight years now."  
He placed both hands on the table.  
  
"The finger..."  
Automatically she counted, counted five fingers at each hand.  
"How... yes, of course, the regenerative potential...?!"  
  
"Yes, good guess. Doctor Ikari, mine is the ability of precognition, I am able to forsee certain  
things. And what I just showed you is torturing me for nearly twenty years now every night."  
  
"That..."  
She shook her head.  
"Go! I can´t believe this!"  
  
"Shall I return bringing your husband with me? He already knows."  
  
"Gendo knows?"  
  
"He had to vow to keep it a secret, like I have to ask you to keep it a secret. If it is known,  
that earth´s doom´s at hand... chaos would reign."  
  
"You told me you are trying to prevent it - how?"  
  
"With the aid of your son and several others."  
  
"What could my son do, he´s just a fourteen year old boy...!"  
  
"With quite a potential."  
  
Yui looked at him.  
"I know you..."  
  
A memory appeared before her mind´s eye - a man with blackened face, handing over her son to her  
he had just rescued from within a burning house...  
"Kyoto..."  
  
"Yes. There we met for the first time."  
  
"Why? I... I do not understand anything..."  
  
"Humanity is endangered by beings called the Angeloi by themselves. Did you husband tell you  
about the expedition to the south-pole in 2000 he participated in?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"But I guess he didn´t tell you what we found there."  
  
"He... sometimes he´s talking in his sleep... about a giant spider..."  
  
Thomas drew a heavy breath.  
"But you thought it nightmares."  
  
"Until now..."  
  
"We met a single scout, the first of a by far larger invasion force. One halve of the expedition´s  
member were killed or injured during the fight before we managed to kill it. In a few weeks more  
Angeloi warriors will come through a gateway located at the south pole, we´ve made preparations  
to stop them but among other things we need your son´s help."  
  
"I can only repeat myself: What do you want him to do?"  
  
"For quite a long time we´ve searched for potential pilots... your son´s one of the few able to  
pilot an EVANGELION."  
  
"What´s that? - Ah... Akagi told me about that VR-game..."  
  
"Our testing center, yes. There he got our attention."  
  
"You want to put my son into a giant robot and send his fighting aliens? Are you mad?"  
  
"No, just desperate... It´s the only option... the enemy is using force fields only an EVANGELION  
is able to neutralize. And your son´s the best pilot we were able to find."  
  
"Pilot? You´re talking about a little boy! Why don´t you go and get some professional pilots?"  
  
"Because neither of them has the necessary reflexes... and because of certain other problems."  
  
"I won´t allow it...!"  
  
"Mother, please, calm down." Shinji´s voice came from the corridor. He stepped into the kitchen,  
looked at the one-eyed.  
"You are working for NERV, aren´t you? - Or better, you are the leader of the organisation."  
  
Thomas blinked.  
"You know about us?"  
  
"Yes, my father´s working for you, isn´t he?"  
  
The man nodded.  
  
"What´s going to happen if nobody will pilot the EVAs to fight the... Angeloi?"  
  
"They will run us down. We may be able to hinder them for a while, but in the end we couldn´t  
prevent the invasion."  
  
"And then?"  
  
"Humanity won´t go down without a fight... In the end the Angeloi will rule a dead world."  
  
"I see..."  
  
"Shinji..." his mother whispered. At this moment the boy seemed to be far older than fourteen.  
  
"Would you force me to pilot an EVA?"  
  
"No, what would be the sense of you doing it forced?"  
  
"May I come with my mother to the Geofront?"  
  
"You even know about this?"  
  
"Shinji didn´t answer that he´d only guessed, but just nodded.  
"Convince my mother to let me go and I´ll be a member of your team..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
When the elevator descended into the Geosector Yui Ikari was unable to suppress a panting.  
"What´s this?"  
  
"A Geosector, a stable subterrain cavern. There are others like this all over the world. We  
discovered this one eight years ago and built our local headquarters here - there, down below."  
Thomas pointed at the pyramid at the shaft´s bottom.  
  
"That´s... fantastic..."  
  
Shinji´s gaze was fixed to the two giants that stood inside of cagelike constructions at the  
beach of the large river.  
"EVA-01..."  
  
"Yes. You already know it and unit zero from the simulation."  
  
The boy hurried to make an agreeing face. His eyes wandered farther across the large Geofront,  
found a small spot of green, recognizing it for what it was.  
Kaji´s garden... so he´s alive in this world...or maybe he isn´t, maybe there´s just a person  
growing melons... the Geosector itself has changed... no building hanging from the ceiling...  
no shelters... there, that might be storage buildings... and that, this looks like barracks...  
And then he saw another difference - the large pyramid still wore the NERV symbol of a halved  
fig leave on one side, but there weren´t the familiar letters but another sentence instead:  
For Humanity...  
  
"Why are your headquarters here if the enemy will attack at the south-pole?" Yui asked, trying  
hard to keep calm.  
  
"That´s our training-center, the place where we are assembling our forces. When I will depart in  
a few days for the Antarctic, the command staff will come with me."  
  
"So that´s not the headquarter?"  
  
"Yes and no."  
  
"The Commander´s trying to tell you that headquarters are whereever the command staff is." Deiko  
said.  
  
"Ah, yes... And my son shall pilot one of these robots down there?"  
Her voice was full of doubt.  
  
"Yes. The purple-green on, unit one. There, can you see it?"  
  
"It´s difficult to believe."  
  
"That´s the reason I´m showing it to you."  
  
"If you really have this power... why don´t you just take what you need?"  
  
"Why? Consider the results - unhappyness, rebellion, failture... No, we not that desperate, yet...  
If Shinji doesn´t want to join us, we will have to look for other potential candidates - and have  
to hope to find them... and to be able to train them in time..."  
  
"How many EVAs are you building?" Shinji asked.  
  
"In the beginning we planned to build thirteen, but because of delays in the schedule we will  
only have about six of them ready when the invasion begins... maybe eight if we are lucky."  
  
"Six... And the pilots? Did you already enlist them?"  
  
"No. You are the first one I´ve visited, because of your great talent."  
  
"So the others are..."  
His voice betrayed no emotions when he told the names.  
"Touji, Kensuke, Hikari, Asuka and Rei..."  
  
"Yes. Suzuhara, Aida, Horaki, Soryu and Akagi."  
  
"Those too?" Yui asked.  
  
The elevator reached its destiny, the pyramid. When the doors opened they were met by Gendo  
Ikari, wearing his uniform with the insignias of a colonel. His face carried a sad expression.  
  
"Gendo?" Yui whispered. "You are working for them?"  
  
"Yes, Yui. For eight years now. I´m the commander of the tactical staff."  
  
"And... Shinji? Did you...?"  
  
"Please, believe me, I never wanted this to happen. But the Commander´s right, we don´t have  
any real alternatives."  
  
"Come, we should talk at one of the briefing rooms", the one-eyed interupted them.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The evening of the same day Thomas and Deiko found themselves at a staircase similiar to the  
one of the Ikari´s apartment building, but it was in a building at the side of this part of  
Tokio.  
  
"It has surprised me that doctor Ikari finally agreed", Deiko mumbled.  
  
"Well, I was rather surprised by the boy´s reaction. Like he knew what I was going to ask him."  
  
"Maybe he´s also a procog?"  
  
"I don´t think so... he doesn´t seem to be unable to sleep... on the other hand not all gifted  
need to suffer nightmares..."  
  
"Ah, don´t start with this again. Say, why don´t we use the elevator?"  
  
"It´s just two floors, Little Sister."  
  
"And that´s saying Mr. "I´m going to die soon". You seem to feel better."  
  
"Just for a short time. Takanawa´s started a new treatment with adrenaline. I guess I will have  
won a few days before my body adapts to it. When the ship takes to see, I fear that I won´t be  
of much use."  
  
"Thomas, Takanawa´s the best at what she does. And with Ikari and Soryu helping her, it should be  
possible to..."  
  
He smiled faintly.  
"I´ve lost hope a long time ago. It´s our mission that keeps me alive and walking..."  
  
"Thomas..."  
  
"It´s okay."  
  
"Yes... I thought Yui Ikari would just kill the colonel... if you hadn´t told her about his vow  
of silence..."  
  
"So she´s just angry at me... and I can life with this."  
  
"Well, but that she agreed... even considering her stipulations..."  
  
"Okay, most of it is no problem - the colonel will watch the children, we will find a tutor  
for them and doctor Ikari will be informed about everything... and in return she will cooperate  
with Takanawa."  
  
"And you did give your word of honor that her son won´t come to harm... How are you going to  
keep this promise?"  
  
"I don´t know... with my blood if necessary... And if I fail... well, Yui Ikari will be the  
least of my problems in this case."  
  
"I would go mad if I had to carry that much responsibility... maybe that´s the reason for Midori´s  
breakdown."  
  
"Maybe... Deiko, I was trained to carry this burden... or better, I was born to..."  
  
"Yes... Warlord... why couldn´t the Angeloi make some more of your kind? They would already have  
destroyed themselves."  
  
"Ha!"  
  
"Shall I wait outside?"  
  
"I guess it would be better. Doctor Soryu was quite shocked when we stood in front of her door."  
  
"Well, no wonder, we are disturbing her marriage dispute."  
  
"Yes, the marriage seems to be quite troubled. I didn´t have to give much details..."  
  
"So we already have recruited two pilots, just four still to go."  
  
"Right. But the boy... ´It´s my responsibility´... I´d like to know what he was talking about  
when he agreed to pilot unit one."  
  
"Thomas, they are teenagers. When I was their age I was talking a lot of strange stuff, too."  
  
"Really? I always thought that you were already running across the roofs that time."  
  
She laughed. Then she sighed.  
"I guess we are there."  
  
"Yes..."  
He pushed the bell-button.  
  
A moment later the door was opened by a girl with blue hair and red eyes.  
"Yes...?"  
  
Thomas looked at Rei, thought to notice something he couldn´t sort in.  
We are alike...  
  
Deiko was more interested in the girl´s red eyes. Then she casted a side-glance at Thomas to  
made sure to see the faint mirror-effect of his contact-lense.  
  
"Good evening, we´d like to talk to your mother."  
  
Rei looked at the uniforms under the open coats.  
"Yes."  
Her face took on a sad expression when she turned her head and shouted:  
"Mom, here are two officers."  
  
"Officers?" Ritsuko Akagi repeated and come out of the livingroom. "Rei, are you sure?`"  
She come to the door, opened it wide and looked at her visitors, stared at Thomas, with eyes  
trippling their size.  
"You..." she whispered...  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: Rei´s origin. ´nuff said! 


	15. Chapter 14 - A mother´s wrath

Chapter 14 - A mother´s wrath  
  
  
Rei Akagi opened the door of the apartment she shared with her mother. In front of the door  
a man and a woman were standing, both wearing army-uniforms under long coats.  
"Yes?" Rei asked insecurely. She noticed the gaze of the one-eyed man, thought to discover  
something familiar.  
  
"Good evening. We´d like to talk to your mother." the stranger said politely.  
  
"Yes."  
It begins again...  
Her face took on a sad expression when she turned her head and shouted:  
"Mom, here are two officers, they want to talk to you!"  
  
"Officers?" Ritsuko Akagi repeated and stepped out of the living-room. "Rei, are you sure?"  
She come to the door, looked at the visitors, stared at Thomas. Her eyes tripled their size.  
"You..." she whispered...  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Thomas looked at the blond woman, who had to be doctor Ritsuko Akagi, with surprise.  
His memory was working hart to remember her. She seemed familiar, but it must have been some  
time...  
  
"You bastard!" Ritsuko shouted and raised a hand to beat him.  
  
The one-eyed was way too surprised to react.  
  
But Deiko acted by grabbing Ritsuko´s hand and stopping it in midair.  
"What´s going on?"  
  
At the same time Thomas remember where he had met Ritsuko Akagi...  
Oh, my god...  
  
It truely was strange how all the puzzle pieces found together... sometimes he really hated it  
to be right...  
  
Ritsuko glared at him.  
"Your appearance has changed, but somehow I always knew that I would recognize you."  
  
"Could somebody please tell me, what´s going on? Anybody?" Deiko asked with low voice.  
  
"Doctor Akagi..." Thomas started but re-thought it. "Ritsuko, I didn´t know..."  
  
"Of course. You couldn´t even remember my name, right?"  
  
"I... Listen, it was quite a chaotic time, and..."  
  
"And?"  
  
"And?" Deiko said at the same moment. "I´d be interested in hearing this, too."  
  
"Mom?" Rei asked confused.  
  
"Go to your room, dear."  
  
Rei blinked.  
"Yes."  
  
Ritsuko looked at Thomas, still angry.  
"Fifteen years... and suddenly you are standing in front of my door..."  
  
"It wasn´t planned..."  
  
"Oh, then it is okay", she mumbled sarcastically. "And what was planned? To deny responsibility  
forever?"  
  
"Ritsuko, I don´t know what you are talking about!"  
  
The expression of her face changed, was replaced by perplexion.  
"You really don´t know it?"  
  
"No."  
  
Slowly she stepped aside.  
"Lets talk... in the kitchen... - You may also come in."  
  
"Commander?" Deiko asked Thomas using his rank.  
  
"Follow me, Captain Tamakura."  
  
  
***  
  
  
A little bit later they were sitting around the table at the Akagis´ kitchen. Thomas had taken  
off his coat and placed it over the free chair while Deiko still was wearing hers.  
  
Ritsuko had calmed down a bit.  
"You look diffent."  
  
"Yes. Fifteen years have been quite a long time."  
  
"Contact lense?"  
  
He nodded.  
"I don´t need one for the other eye anymore."  
  
"Those red eyes were quite... impressing..."  
  
A small smile moved across his face.  
"I´ve never been to this disco again... or to any discotheque..."  
He touched the eye-patch.  
"It took some time to recover..."  
  
"I´ve been there, where we met, several times. Did you never try to find me?"  
  
"No." He looked her into the eyes. "There were other things to do."  
  
"Of course... of course lots of things exist of greater importance than somebody you spent the  
night with."  
  
"That´s the reason we are here now."  
  
"Oh... And I thought... Hm... you seem to know my name, but I´d like to know yours."  
  
"Yes... I have many names... used countless identities over the years... hm... well, call me  
Thomas."  
  
"Thomas... that´s all?"  
  
"The only constant. Well, Thomas Shigen."  
  
"Shigen, yes... So I can finally tell my daughter her father´s name."  
  
Deiko started to cough.  
  
Thomas´ eyes tripled their size.  
"Daughter?"  
  
Ritsuko nodded.  
"You have just seen her. Rei´s your daughter... the result of that one night."  
  
"My god... had I known..."  
  
"What then? Would you have been there for her? Would she have had a father when she needed one?  
Would you have cared for her?"  
  
"Ritsuko, I... that´s taking me quite by surprise..."  
He lower his gaze, stared at the table broodingly.  
  
Deiko sighed.  
"Well, I think such stories to be quite interesting... but... Doctor Akagi, I am Captain Deiko  
Tamakura of the UN-ship PROMETHEUS. Like my commanding officer I´m in the service of NERV, an  
organisation of the military branch of the UN. What I will tell you hasn´t to be told anybody  
else."  
  
"What?" Ritsuko answered confused. "Would you..."  
  
"No. This can´t wait. We have no time."  
  
"Deiko", Thomas whispered.  
  
"No, Commander, the schedule..."  
  
"She´s my daughter."  
  
"And Shinji Ikari´s Colonel Ikari´s Sohn... and Kensuke Aida is the Nephew of Lieutnant Aida...   
and..."  
She fell silent, looked at him with compassion.  
"I´m sorry, you know better than I do what´s written in the NERV-agenda."  
  
"I wrote it... continue..."  
  
"Thanks. - Doctor Akagi, my organisation´s sworn to protect humanity from exterior dangers. And  
your daughter, Rei, has abilities that make it necessary for her to accompain us."  
  
"Rei? So you are here for her... You want to take her away from me!"  
  
"No..." Thomas started but left it to his companion to continue.  
  
"That´s not our intention. But... Earth needs your daughter´s help."  
  
"But..."  
  
"You should come with us to headquarters, so we can show."  
Thomas gave a long sigh.  
"Ritsuko, it´s all very surprising for me... I never expected... never thought about the possibility  
of having a daughter..."  
  
"And I never thought to see you again... Well, at first I intended to kill you..."  
  
"I just hope you´re joking... may I talk to her?"  
  
"To Rei? I don´t know if that´s such a good idea... don´t tell her who you are."  
  
"If you wish so."  
  
"I´ll accompain you."  
  
"Okay."  
  
They left the kitchen while Deiko stayed behind.  
Could that have been the reason for Midori´s breakdown? But how could she have known if Thomas  
was that surprised... Well, I´d like to hear the complete story... it must have happened before  
the first expedition to the south-pole... hm...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Chaos reigned again within NERV-headquarters.  
Most of the crewmen were staring at the large main screen.  
  
Colonel Gendo Ikari jumped out of the commander´s chair when Selene entered the bridge.  
  
"Report!"  
  
"Look..."  
Gendo pointed at the screen. It was showing a satellite picture that was dominated by lots of  
red.  
"The shipyards at the North-American westcoast has been destroyed completly. This hellmouth´s  
all that´s been left of Sunnydale. Estimated number of casualities: about 50000 human lifes.  
  
Selene hid her face in her hands.  
"What did happen?" she asked with emotions.  
  
"The MAGI report that the scheduled testing run of the CHRONOS´ S2-engine has caused no problems.  
We think it has been sabotage."  
  
"Sabotage... That man is responsible for our first loss..."  
  
"Chief...!"  
Shigeru Aoba had left his seat.  
  
"Speak, captain."  
  
"POLARIS reports the presence of a blue pattern! MAGI confirm!"  
  
"Where?"  
  
The image on the screen changed, showed a picture of South Japan.  
  
"On the mainland... Near Tokio!"  
  
"It looks like a hive. Tell the military! I´ll talk to the secretary of interior."  
She got up.  
"Ikari, follow me!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Rei was sitting at her desk and read a book when somebody knocked at the door.  
"Yes?"  
  
Her mother and the one-eyed officer entered her room. The expression on the man´s face could have  
been described with sadness as well as with amazement.  
  
When she saw her mother Rei felt cold, like she had felt many times the last few days since her  
memories had returned.  
Ritsuko Akagi... my mother... in this reality... but in the other world she did hate me... like  
her mother did... Naoko Akagi killed me once... but not here... I... if we are made by our memories  
what of this did happen, if shall I do? Mom... Grandma... they love me... and if I wouldn´t see  
these images...  
Her thoughts were moving in circles. The only thing she could do was banishing them to the  
farsest corner of her mind to prevent losing her mind. And the only other human being she could  
have talked to about it was unreaceable.  
  
"Rei, that´s... Thomas Shigen, he´s working for the United Nations..."  
Ritsuko spoke hesitatingly like she was thinking very hard about each word.  
  
"Hello." the man greeted her with warm voice. "I´m happy to meet you."  
  
She noticed something on his uniform that had been hidden by his coat before: The symbol of a  
halved fig leave of his shoulder pad.  
"You´re working for NERV."  
  
He hesitated for a moment.  
"Yes."  
  
Rei got up.  
"How can I help you?"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Thomas stood on one of the headquarters´ many corridors, forehead pressed against a window without  
really looking at the outside.  
  
Deiko leaned against the wall next to him.  
"This day was full of... relevations..."  
  
"Yes, you name it. To get to know that I have a fourteen year old daughter... It was... hm...  
in a way I feel like the day Takanawa told me that I am going to die very slowly... but it´s not  
the same..."  
  
"Would you like to tell me how it happened?"  
  
"Yes, how... Little Sister, I guess it´s not a glorious tale..."  
  
"Well, tell me, you look like you need to."  
  
"Fifteen years ago... Surely you remember how it all started..."  
  
"Hm, the Matriel?"  
  
"No, before."  
  
"Ah, Midori..."  
  
"Yes, when all went downhill between her and me... I had thought our bond would endure anything,   
but I had been wrong... after the miscarriage..."  
  
"I know..."  
She placed a hand on his shoulder.  
"She told you it was your fault."  
  
"Mine and what I am... and I keep telling me that she was right, that I had killed our son..."  
  
"Yes. You were quite down, some of us feared you might lose it."  
  
"I know. Falk even prepared to have me eliminated..."  
  
"Oh... I didn´t know..."  
  
"Probably he evn would have succeeded. I was really down on the ground..."  
  
"You wanted neither help nor comfort."  
  
"Yes... Instead I took to drinking for days to forget. And you know was I was able to digest  
when my healing factor wasn´t busy fighting the deterioration of my body."  
  
"You were able to drink us all under the table without being drunk yourself."  
  
"And in this state of mind I met Ritsuko Akagi... it was the classical one-night-stand."  
  
"But with consequences."  
  
"Consequences I didn´t even dream of... and when I was sober again, Falk stood in front of the  
door and dragged me away to the plane..."  
  
"So your daughter was conceived the night before we took off for the Antarctic?"  
  
"Yes. And now fifteen years have gone by... fifteen years I missed... I feel guilty... and now  
I know what Ikari´s feeling..."  
  
"Hm..."  
  
"Deiko, I am the Warlord, I should not have such feelings, but they are there."  
  
"That makes you human... and the children secure. Thomas, I guess I am your oldest friend, not  
counting Sanchez, I´ll be there for you, ever."  
  
"Thanks, Little Sister."  
  
"So, can we get back now to being professionals?" she asked and grinned.  
  
"Back to work?"  
  
"You don´t happen to waste time for self-pity on other occassions."  
  
"Well... So?"  
  
"Slowly it´s getting out of hand. Now doctor Akagi is going to accompain us to Antarctica...  
another civilian to protect and another potential distraction."  
  
"Well, we can´t kidnap the children... Deiko, you weren´t there, but Rei´s reaction was as weird as  
the boy´s. It was like she was already expecting to be enlisted."  
  
"Since she´s your daughter that doesn´t surprise me... maybe she´s inheritated some of your   
abilities."  
  
"Hm..."  
His chain of thoughts was interupted when his sister, Colonel Ikari and Lieutenant Hyuga came  
walking down the corridor with a steady pace.  
"Selene, what´s up?"  
  
"The MAGI have discovered a Bardiel-hive in the neighborhood of Tokio. The JSSDF got orders to  
attack it, I´ll join the attack."  
  
"A hive of brain-parasites? Hell and damnation..."  
  
"And the US-branch with the shipyard has been destroyed."  
  
"What? Why wasn´t I told earlier?"  
  
"You had a meeting with the parent, I didn´t want to startle anybody."  
  
"I see. I´m taking command here. Be careful."  
  
"Of course."  
  
He straightened, seemed to leave the sorrows and concerns behind, turned into the effective   
machinery he had been trained to become, he had been born to become...  
  
  
***  
  
  
"The area has been evacuated." Gendo Ikari reported from the back seat of the jet fighter.  
  
Selene gave him a sign telling him that she´d unterstood. Their jet was part of a formation  
flying eastwards.  
"N2-bombs ready. - But I want to circle the area first."  
  
*Confirmed, NERV-01, fly ahead.*  
  
"Colonel, keep your eyes open!"  
  
"Of course."  
  
The jet descended.  
  
"Nothing´s on the screen..."  
  
"The lake, Colonel, I´ll fly over it again..."  
  
"Yes, there´s something. Scanner´s reporting sighting of enemy! The hive must be underwater."  
  
"Just like a Bardiel would love it. I´ll fly over it again."  
  
"I am getting a visual! Looks like a giant brain... is that the hive-mother?"  
  
"Show me... yes, confirmed. - To sqad: Target identified. Transmitting coordinates. Bomb it!"  
  
She flew another loop, dropped the N2-bombs.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The satellite pictures transmitted to the control center were showing the destructions resulting  
from the bombings.  
  
"Report, captain Aoba."  
  
"Still analysing, Commander. Ah... MAGI confirm target´s destruction. Lady Selene reports that it  
was truely a Bardiel-hive. Well, they will have to draw new maps of the region."  
  
"Thank you, captain."  
Thomas leaned back in his seat.  
"God knows howmany of them still exist out there..."  
  
Deiko just nodded.  
  
"Captain, have POLARIS do further deep-scans. I´m worried by the hive´s vicinity to headquarters.  
And have the crew checked for brain-parasites."  
  
"Confirmed."  
Nervously Makoto touched the back of his neck.  
  
  
***  
  
  
In her containment cell Midori Sekigahama opened her eyes. Both were glowing in a deep red...  
The redblonde-haired woman sat up on her plank bed and seemed to listen to unhearable voices...  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Rei, are you sure that you truely want to do this?"  
  
"Yes, Mom."  
  
Ritsuko noticed the short break between these two words. She stepped to her daughter´s side and  
caressed her hair.  
"What´s up with you?"  
  
"I..."  
  
"Rei, you are shivvering... is it because of this?"  
  
"No. It is... Have you ever felt the urge to do something?"  
  
"Even if it is complete nonsense?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Ritsuko smiled.  
"Oh, yes... But since your birth I made it a habit to ignore these urges."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And your decision... it´s something like this?"  
  
"You wouldn´t understand."  
  
"Rei, you seem so... changed... what´s the reason? We can still tell your... the Commander that  
you..."  
  
"No, that´s not the reason. Don´t ask, Mom, please, don´t ask."  
  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: Tabris vs. Bardiel - To the death!  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
A.N.: Yupp, I watched an episode of Buffy while reading this chapter... 


	16. Chapter 15 - Burning Heart

A.N.: Okay, it took some time to finish translating this chapter. Summer has hit Germany with all  
its might and it´s really hot here. So, I fear that there are lots of mistakes...  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 15 - Burning Heart  
  
  
The lodging given to Shinji within headquarters was quitre large, larger than his room at home.  
Under a large window a desk stood with a chair next to a very comfortable looking bed. A table   
with two chair stood at the wall next to a board with a small TV set.  
  
It´s quite different from the ones in the... other world...  
He remembered the night in the tiny room given to Kaworu.  
It had been before... an eternity? A life? A few days?  
Shinji sighed and walked up to the window.  
Even the view is different... this place doesn´t seem to be a fortress... Storehouses, Quarters...  
large gardens...  
Again he sighed. He turned around and left the room, stepped into the corridor.  
  
Doors were to both sides of the corridor, but those of the other side were locked.  
Storagerooms... without windows... he thought before turning left to the next door and knocking.  
The sign next to the door read: Rei Akagi.  
  
"Come in." it came monotously from the inside. "The door´s open."  
  
Shinji entered - stopped at the doorstep, completly taken by surprise.  
  
The table belonging to this room had been moved to the middle of it.  
Around the table Rei, Asuka and Hikari were sitting and playing cards.  
  
Asuka´s left eyelid was twitching, when she got a card from Rei, while Rei´s face stayed completly  
expressionless.  
  
Asuka sighed.  
  
"Uhm, hi... do I disturb you?"  
  
"You don´t." Rei said without turning the head, her attention completly on the cards in her delicate  
hand. But within her voice was a warm sound that was reserved only for him.  
  
"Hello, Shinji!"  
Hikari nooded at him.  
"Do you want to join us? We should be finishing this round soon - if only Asuka wouldn´t need  
that long everytime..."  
  
"What does Rei have to have such a pokerface?" Asuka argued. "I have got the joker just again!"  
The next moment she clapped her hand against her mouth while Hikari started to laugh.  
  
"Asuka, that´s no game for you."  
  
"Ah, not?"  
  
"No. And - you should never play for money if you don´t want to lose everything."  
  
"Argh! If you were not my best friend, I would..."  
  
Shinji got the chair by the desk and carried it over to the table, noticed Rei´s side-glance  
and the smile that moved over her face for a short moment.  
Why do just the two of us remember what happened? I´ll ask her when we are alone again...  
"Ah, did they tell you when the synchtest begins?"  
  
"This afternoon at two o´clock." Rei answered.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"I´m quite courious how a real EVA is."  
  
Shinji looked at Asuka.  
Doesn´t she remember? She died inside of EVA-02...  
He felt his knees starting to shake.  
She´s not dead, she´s sitting next to me... She can´t have died...  
But he remembered just too well finding the smashed remains of the EntryPlug... seeing something  
rolling out of the remains of the capsule, something that had been surrounded by red hair...  
No... no... no...  
  
"Baka-Shinji, stop thrashing around!"  
  
"Shinji-kun, what´s up?"  
Rei placed a hand on his arm.  
  
"Nothing." he pressed through clenched teeth.  
  
"You look realy bad, maybe the doctors here should check it", Hikari suggested.  
  
"It´s... it´s okay."  
He forced himself to smile.  
"Thanks for your concern, class-rep."  
  
"Hm, without a class I guess I´m no class-represantive at the moment... I just hope my sisters  
have no trouble without me, the commander was unable to tell how long I´ll be gone."  
  
"Well, I think it´s great that we´re finally able to do something together - and your sisters  
will master any kind of trouble."  
  
"Thanks, Asuka. It´s just, well, since my mother´s ill a lot I´m taking care of the house, the  
cooking... my older sister is able to burn water!"  
  
´Oh, there I do know another one´, Shinji wanted to say but realized that he didn´t know if  
the Misato Katsuragi of this reality was as a bad cook as in the other one.  
Misato... she´s a teacher here...  
  
"Ah, Hikari, they´ll get along - or they have something brought. Since my parents are always  
argueing I´ve often been to the noodle-restaurant at the corner."  
  
"Asuka, how is it, when your parents always argue?"  
  
"Not nice..."  
The redhead cast a last look on her cards.  
"I don´t like to play anymore."  
  
"I´m sorry, Asuka, I didn´t want..."  
  
"No, no, the two of them are argueing loudly enough, I guess the half of the town does already  
know. My father has a mistress and my mother would just love to kill him."  
  
Hikari looked at Asuka with widened eyes.  
"And you are able to say this that easy?"  
  
"Why should I be ashamed? The relatives know, the neighbors know... Probably they´ll divorce soon."  
  
"And what are you going to do? I mean, which parent will you stay with?"  
  
"´Don´t know."  
  
Shinji felt that she was only pretending to be cool. Way too often he had noticed that she had  
cryed or heard her sobbing at night since her window was right above his. And he knew that the  
whole house did already know about her parents.  
"Uhm, maybe it will get alright again?!" he said against better knowing.  
  
Asuka tried to smile.  
"Maybe... but if not... I guess, I could get along alone."  
  
"Really?" Hikari asked unbelievingly.  
  
"Or maybe I´ll move in with Shinji... Eh, Shinji-chan, how´d you like this?" Asuka said.  
  
"Ah..."  
His jaw dropped.  
  
"I´d know this." Rei mumbled.  
  
"Ah, come on, Rei, I´m just joking."  
  
"Hm."  
  
"Ah. Well, my parents were quite happy to have me out of the house so they don´t have to pretend  
to be careful. And it´s quite nice here, if you ask me. No school..."   
  
"Yes." Rei agreed.  
  
"Wow, Rei agrees with me... must be a good sign... hey, Hikari, draw a card!"  
  
"I thought you..."  
  
"Ha! Come on, draw a card."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
Asuka looked disappointed while Hikari put down a pair.  
"Damned... Okay, that´s it."  
She put down her cards in front of her for everyone to see.  
  
"If you think so."  
Rei collected the cards and put them back into the box.  
  
"I know the reason they recruited us... but why are Touji and Kensuke here, too?"  
  
"Maybe because of them being capable pilots?" Shinji said.  
  
"Baka-Shinji, don´t interupt me! I´m just proofing the superiority of the female half of humanity!"  
  
Hikari giggled.  
  
"And how are you going to do this?"  
  
"Ah, Baka, that´s easy! Just look!"  
Asuka got up, moved away from the table. Then she let her shoulders slump forward and pushed her  
jaw forward.  
"Hello, I am Touji! I´m the greatest jock at the whole school!"  
She made handmovements like she was dribbling a ball.  
  
"Oh, Asuka, that´s nasty!" Hikari shouted but couldn´t stop giggling.  
  
Asuka´s answer was bending her knees a bit and opening her eyes widely.  
"And I am Kensuke, my best friend´s my computer!"  
  
"Asuka, stop, they are my friends!" Shinji protested.  
  
"And that´s the final proof..." Asuka laughed. "We women are way better than you. You should  
carry us on your hands!"  
  
"Asuka! ... Rei, please, say something."  
  
"Hm... being carried on hands... I could get used to this."  
Rei winked at Shinji.  
  
"Say, where are the other two stooges?"  
  
"Well, Asuka, it´s one thing to imitate Touji, but calling him an idiot..."  
  
Asuka watched Hikari closely.  
"Just say - you don´t happen to like him, do you?"  
  
"Ah... uhm..."  
Hikari turned red.  
  
"That´s obscene!" Asuka shouted and grinned.  
  
Hikari glared at her.  
"If one of you tells Touji anything, I´ll... I´ll kill you! - The same goes for you, Shinji!"  
  
The boy twitched heavily.  
"Ah, yes."  
  
"Eh, Hikari, that´s my line! - But in earnest, where are the two?"  
  
"Uhm, they wanted to look around a bit within the Geofront... Kensuke wanted to visited the docks."  
  
"That´s typical, they´ll walk right into trouble! Aida will stumble into some kind of high-security  
zone and..."  
  
This moment sirens started howling.  
  
"What´s up now?" Asuka shouted. "I was just joking..."  
  
Shinji jumped up, ran out into the corridor just to watch thick steeldoors closing at both ends  
of it. At the same moment a steeljalousy closed in front of Rei´s room´s window. He returned to  
the room to tell the others what he had witnessed.  
  
Rei meanwhile stood in front of the TV-set, working at a small command port.  
"I´m trying to contact somebody..."  
  
The screen lightened, showed the face of a young man with shoulderlengthed hair, saying something  
Shinji couldn´t hear.  
  
Rei tunred around.  
"We are to stay here, he said, we´d be safe here."  
  
"Did he say what´s going on?"  
  
"No, Asuka, just that we should stay together."  
  
  
***  
  
  
At the command center Shigeru Aoba interupted the connection to the childrens´ quarters.  
"Four of them are within their rooms, the other two are at the docks."  
  
"Good, they shall stay there."  
Thomas looked downwards over his folded hands.  
"Can you already tell me the reason for the alarm?"  
  
"MAGI are still busy identifying the blue pattern."  
  
"An Angeloi-construct within headquarters..." Deiko mumbled who stood by Thomas´ side.  
  
"Are the backup-systems working as expected?"  
  
"No problems. The two new MAGI-units are working well. But the target´s too small for the POLARIS-  
sensors within the orbit... Wait, target´s been localised... the holding cells!"  
  
"The cells?"  
Thomas kept his breath.  
"Midori..."  
  
"You don´t happen to think that...  
  
He looked at her with eyes full of sadness. Then he got up.  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"What I have to do..."  
Once again he looked back.  
"Captain Aoba, the pilots´ security is of top priority!"  
  
"Understood, Commander. Target´s left the holding cell area!"  
  
"Any visual link?" Deiko asked.  
  
"Negative, visual link´s disturbed. Data point at the existence of a weak AT-field!"  
  
"AT-field... that was to be expected..." the one-eyed whispered.  
  
"Again: What are you going to do?"  
  
"I should have seen the danger earlier... Deiko, Midori´s been possessed by a Bardiel. - I should  
have noticed it!"  
  
"That´s not sure, Thomas."  
  
He just shook his head.  
"Captain, have a way opened to my rooms through the defenses. Then you´ll take a team and bring  
the children out of headquarters!"  
And he left the control center.  
  
"Damned, wait!" Deiko hissed when she closed up to him. "You are not really going to do what I am  
thinking you are going to do, are you?!"  
  
"We can´t fight an Angeloi here within headquarters without endangering NMROD´s controls. I will  
try to stop the Angeloi on the lower levels... if I fail you will flood the lower level with  
bakelite."  
  
They reached the living-quarters of the Commander.  
  
"You can´t be serious... What are we going to do without you?"  
  
"You´ll get along."  
He entered his rooms just to return with a weapon, a nearly six feet long spear with twin-tips  
at both ends.  
  
"Your Khadja... I haven´t seen you using it for quiet a while."  
  
"I had no reason."  
  
She looked into his good eye, found either mercy nor humanity...  
"Thomas..."  
  
"Deiko, if I fail... if I fail and the Bardiel manages to also possess me... you know what you´ll  
have to do then..."  
  
"Stay!"  
  
"I have to try, I owe her..."  
And he hurried down the corridor to the next flight of stairs. A security door closed behind him.  
  
"Idiot..." Deiko whispered and turned to the next com-console. "Control center, this is Captain  
Tamakura. Commander Shigen´s on his way to the lower levels. Since I´m the senior officer with  
him gone, I´m taking command now."  
  
"Confirmed."  
  
"I´ll be waiting for a fully armed squat in five minutes at my coordinates."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
Deiko pulled a gun out of her shoulder-holster and checked the magazine.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Thomas ran down the firestairs. Since the third flight he felt pain in his left knee.  
It was never a problem before... but now all those old injuries sum up to a lot of trouble...  
Only emergency light was on, but he´d have found his way blindly  
His mind was busy planing a strategy to use against the Bardiel - while his heart kept asking  
him if he really would be able to use it...  
  
"Target enters level nine", Aoba´s voice whispered from the headset into his ear.  
  
"I´m nearly there."  
His own raspy voice startled him.  
"Unlook the door."  
  
"Confirmed. The section with the children´s secured, we´re preparing for evacuation."  
  
"Understood."  
  
"Captain Tamakura´s on the way with reinforcements."  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"We´ve lost contact to level nine."  
  
"Are some of our people still there?"  
  
"No, evacuation´s complete."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Darkness reigned on level nine.  
  
Thomas stopped at the door that locked shut behind him.  
Alone...  
He removed his contact lense.  
A single red eye glowed in the dark.  
Where is she...?  
The Khadja ready to strike he walked down the main corridor without producing any noise.  
He was the Warlord...  
  
  
***  
  
  
One of the security gates was opened.  
  
Shigeru Aoba waved at the waiting children.  
"We´ll bring you outside."  
  
"Did anything happen?" Shinji asked.  
  
"Trouble on the lower levels."  
  
"An angel? - Ahm, an Angeloi?" the boy corrected himself.  
  
Aoba nodded.  
"An intruder."  
  
"We have to go to the EVAs to stop it!"  
  
"No, boy, the mechas wouldn´t be able to enter the lower levels. The commander has gone to stop  
the Angeloi himself."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Two red eyes were glowing in the dark.  
  
He stopped.  
"Midori", he whispered.  
  
A blink.  
"TABRIS..."  
It was her voice, but it sounded raw and full of hate.  
"TRAITOR TO THE IMPERATRIX..."  
  
Thomas readied his Khadja-blade, went into a defensive position.  
"Midori, fight it!"  
  
"NO USE. MIDORI´S IRRELEVANT."  
  
His eyes hardened. He changed to the language of the Angeloi.  
"WHAT´S YOUR MISSION?"  
  
"TO PREPARE FOR THE ARRIVAL OF HER MAJESTY. ARE YOU READY TO DIE, TRAITOR?"  
A glow surrounded Midori Sekigahama when the Bardiel spread its AT-field.  
  
"I WILL STOP YOU."  
  
"TRY IT, TABRIS!"  
Light shot from her eyes, hit his passive AT-field, threw him backwards.  
  
Pain raced through his body when he hit the wall.  
"Midori, fight it! I know you can!"  
He rolled aside, came back to his feet, pointing at her with one the Khadja´s blades.  
  
She looked at him. For a moment the AT-field blinked.  
"I try... but it´s so..." Midori whispered.  
For a second the glow vanished from her eyes, just to return stronger than before.  
Her hands turned into claws, then she charged him.  
  
Thomas turned his blade away in the last moment so that he just stopped her instead of skewering  
her.  
  
The Bardiel grinned at him.  
"YOU ARE WEAK, TABRIS. THE HUMANS MADE YOU WEAK!"  
  
"NO... Midori!"  
  
Again she threw him against the wall, he hit it hard with the head, his vision blurred. He dodged  
the next attack, used his weapon to hit her legs and threw her to the ground. The next second he  
was holding the blade against her throat.  
"LET HER GO!"  
  
"NO!"  
A shivver ran through her body. Again the glow left her eyes.  
"Kill me..."  
  
"No!"  
  
The Bardiel´s hands reached upwards, grabbed the blade, pushed it away, ignoring the deep cuts  
resulting from this action.  
"YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!"  
She kicked against his left knee with all her might.  
  
The one-eyed lost his balance.  
  
The next kick hit him at the chest.  
  
He lost his weapon, was to busy trying to breath.  
  
"AND, WHAT NOW, TABRIS? NO PLACE TO RUN..."  
  
When he saw the next kick coming, he grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him.  
  
A hit to the face by the Bardiel´s fist left a burning sensation behind.  
  
He got a hold of her wrist, when she hit him with the other hand he also grabbed this one.  
  
"Last chance, Midori..." he whispered. "Fight!"  
  
With a pull he dragged her close, pressed his lips against hers.  
  
The Bardiel´s eyes widened, the glow in it got weaker when it felt its energy drained away.  
  
Fight... fight it... I love you...  
  
The body in his arms went limp. But he didn´t break the contact, keep using his powers against  
the parasite, sucking its life away. He only let go of her wrist to hold her.  
  
And somewhen he finally broke the kiss that had destroyed the Bardiel. And a single tear of blood  
ran down his cheek when he realized that in the end he had failed...  
  
  
  
End of stage 2  
  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
  
Next: The PROMETHEUS takes to sea for Operation Fishingtour 


	17. Chapter 16 - Operation Fishingtour

Stage 3 - PROMETHEUS  
  
Chapter 16: Operation Fishingtour  
  
  
It´s different... Shinji Ikari´s first thoughts were, when the synchronlinks were closed.  
He was inside of EVA-01´s EntryPlug for the first time and at the same time he was unable to  
say how often he had sat in it.  
  
EVA-01 was positioned at the testing grounds within the Geosector under Tokio. The testing grounds  
reminded him of a giant racing track.  
  
Shinji looked aside, next to EVA-01 was unit zero.  
On his com-display he could see Rei´s face, other small screen were showing the chief officer  
of the testing center, a Doctor Tsara, as well as the scientist who had develloped the EVAs,  
Doctor Takanawa.  
  
"Are you ready?"  
  
"Uh, yes."  
  
"Confirmed, Doctor Tsara."  
  
"Okay. Take your positions... ready... set... go!"  
  
Shinji made EVA-01 run. EVA-00 started running, too, side by side they were crossing the field,  
turned around at the end of the track and returned to the start. At the turning point EVA-01  
left the prototype far behind, was the first to reach the destination.  
  
Tsara nodded.  
"Good time. Very good synch-ratio, both! We will repeat this twice and then you´ll do some  
weapon training with the simulators."  
  
Shinji wished to be able to talk alone with Rei. All the time they hadn´t managed to spend some  
time alone, either Touji and Kensuke did join him or Asuka and Hikari had appeared at Rei´s place  
- or her mother who also was at the Testing Center´s controll room.  
And he wasn´t sure if the private com-channel was safe to talk since they were at NERV however how  
friendly the commander and his crew were...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Miyuki Takanawa looked up from her notes and turned towards the holograms that had appeared within  
her lab. It were the holos of NERV-commander Thomas Shigen and UN-colonel Gendo Ikari, chief of  
NERV´s tactical staff.  
"The data are very interesting, Commander. They are better than expected with the First and  
Third Child, the Second Child is about avarage, but the other three are in need of additional  
training, I suggest a week of intensive training."  
  
"That´s within my plans."  
Thomas´ voice betrayed no emotions.  
  
"Yes... Here at Osaka we are within the schedule. The units two and three are aboard of the   
ODYSSEUS, the ship will take to sea with the next dawn with the UN-convoi."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Captain Sanchez asked me to greet you."  
  
"Thanks."  
Again she noticed that the one-eyed was showing no emotions even when she mentioned one of his  
oldest friends.  
  
"Commander... I´ve just taken a look at your actual medical files - and was quite surprised.  
Your cellular degeneration has been slowed down."  
  
  
"Yes. Doctor, how about the other two units?"  
  
"Ah... EVA-04 and -05 are now in the growth vat, they are develloping as scheduled."  
  
"Try to hasten the schedule."  
  
"That would increase the risk of misgrowth..."  
  
"Do it. Thanks, doctor."  
The commander´s hologram vanished.  
  
Takanawa exchanged a look with Ikari.  
  
"He´s behaving like this since Major Sekigahama´s death..."  
  
"Hm... I am able to build giant humanoid war-machines, but I can´t heal a broken heart..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Rei, are you awake?" Shinji wispered while hesitatingly knocking at her door.  
  
No reaction.  
  
He leaned at the doorframe, thinking.  
Meanwhile ten days were gone since NERV had recruited them, ten days of tests and training.  
But it was different than his memories.  
The synchronisation worked without troubles, didn´t bring the inner pain with it he could remember  
quite clearly. It seemed that the EVA did accept him from the beginning. But there still was  
something familiar, a voice that seemed to talk to his heart but he was unable to understand it.  
  
Without warning the door was opened.  
  
Shinji lost his balance, stumbled backwards into Rei´s room, wildly thrashing with his arms.  
He got a hold at Rei, dragged unwillingly her down to the ground with him.  
The next moment he found himself laying on the ground, with Rei on him, one hand on his chest.  
  
Their eyes met.  
  
"Ah... Rei, I´m sorry." he said.  
  
"No... problem..."  
  
He smelled her hair, had trouble with breathing.  
  
"Rei..."  
  
"Yes?"  
She lowered her head, her lips approached his.  
  
"Could you... your knee..."  
  
"Oh."  
She rolled down of him.  
  
"Thanks." he managed to say and sat up while the pain in his crotch receded.  
  
"Yes. I didn´t want to..."  
She sat down next to him, closed the door.  
  
"Uhm... it was my fault... Rei, I must talk to you."  
  
"Yes."  
  
He noticed that she already wore her nightshirt, turned his eyes away.  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"How do you mean this?"  
  
"Ah... I... Well, I wanted to say... why did you agree to pilot an EVA again?"  
  
"Again... yes... Because it´s my duty."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I..."  
She looked at him confused.  
"I was born to."  
  
"But not in this world... Rei, do you think, I wanted this to happed? I wished for another place,  
a new beginning, a place where... you are safe..."  
  
"Yes, I know."  
She took his hand in hers.  
"But we are made by our memories."  
  
"But I didn´t want it. I didn´t want Asuka´s parents to divorce, I wanted..."  
  
"Nothing´s perfect, Shinji..."  
  
"It would be better if we couldn´t remember."  
  
"Maybe. But so we have those memories that might be useful in the near future."  
  
"Yes... Rei, why do just we remember? Why doesn´t Asuka?"  
  
"We were components who initiated Third Impact... We are at the center of it."  
  
"I see..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Selene, you called me?!"  
  
Selene Shigen didn´t react at her brother´s arrival.  
  
Thomas turned to Roderick Falk, raised one eye-brow.  
  
"Big problems", the green-eyed Irish mumbled. "We lost the ODYSSEUS."  
  
  
***  
  
  
The pilots had been called away from the simulators for an urgent meeting.  
  
A holoprojector at the center of the round brief room´s table showed pictures of the ODYSSEUS´  
first - and last - battle.  
  
"Two hours ago the ODYSSEUS and the UN-convoi accompaying her were attacked by an Angeloi-construct  
of type Gaghiel." NERV-commander Thomas Shigen explained.  
"It´s a full grown Angeloi. Our satellites didn´t notice it until it attacked. The complete UN-  
fleet of five heavy destroyers was destroyed. The captain of the ODYSSEUS dropped the cargo-modules  
into the sea and attacked the Angeloi with his ship´s weapons. If this attack was successful or  
not, isn´t sure at all since for the duration of the combat all transmission from and into the  
area were scrambled by the Angeloi´s AT-field, even the satellites´ systems were unable to record  
anything. Some of the survivors did tell that they didn´t know what had hit their ships, the   
Gaghiel seems to be really fast.  
About the EVAs: The cargo modules seems to be undamaged, but they are in a depth of 600 feet.  
We will start a salvage mission, the PROMETHEUS will take to sea in one hour."  
  
"Uh, what are we needed for?"  
  
"You will do the salvage, Shinji Ikari. The PROMETHEUS is able to dive, but we would face several  
problems operating under water. So the ship will provide cover while you get to the cargo modules  
with the EVAs." Gendo said.  
  
"Any other questions?" the commander interrupted the older Ikari harshly.  
  
"What about the... the fist?" Touji asked.  
  
"We are trying to find its trail. Obviously the sensors aren´t able to locate it. The operation  
will have to be done fast - the EVAs will be let down into the depth by their maintenance-cables,  
they will place ropes at the containers, so we will be able to get them up to the surface. As  
soon as the EVAs have been salvaged, we will withdraw to the closed habour and check the units  
for any damages.  
Unit zero and one will use new batterie-packs with energy for about an hour. Via solar cells the  
packs are able recharge within..."  
  
"Irrelevant." Shigen interrupted Gendo again. He looked into the round. "Operation Fishingtour  
begins in exact 57 minutes. You´ll be on the PROMETHEUS´ bridge that time. Since it´s questionable  
that we return to the Geofront you should have brought your stuff aboard then."  
  
"Uhm, what´s the ship´s destination?"  
  
"The south pole."  
  
"The antarctica?" Hikari asked.  
  
The children looked at each other.  
  
"There will be the real battle fought", the commander mumbled. "Be on the bridge in one hour."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Roderick, please keep this for me."  
Thomas gave an envelop to his brother-in-law.  
  
"What´s that?"  
  
"My legacy. I won´t return from the Antarctic this time..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"We are leaving? That´s quite suddenly!"  
Ritsuko Akagi frowned.  
"And why did nobody tell me?"  
  
Rei couldn´t answer her mother´s question.  
  
"I´ll start packing... Ach, I´ve just unpacked and now..."  
  
She is not the Ritsuko Akagi of my... memories... Her life did take a completly different turn,  
as did grandmother´s...  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you already done?"  
  
"Yes."  
She poined at the two bags by the door.  
"I did not unpack yet."  
  
"So give me a hand here, yes?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"By the way, two nights ago I saw Shinji coming out of your room..."  
  
"..."  
  
"We still have an agreement, haven´t we?"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
Ritsuko smiled. As long as her daughter reacted that way she did not need to worry...  
  
  
***  
  
  
About halve an hour later the small group, consisting of six children and one grown-up, arrived at the dock containing the PROMETHEUS.  
  
Captain Shigeru Aoba brought them aboard.  
  
"This ship´s really big", Kensuke said admiring. "How did the Gaghiel manage to sink her sistership?"  
  
"The ODYSSEUS wasn´t equipped for a battle." Aoba explained, but it seemed as if he had practised this sentence. "Captain Sanchez tried to protect the convoi."  
He pointed down the corridor.  
"We are taking the elevator to the quarters. The ship has four main decks - Weapons, Quarters, Storage, Engines. We have 220 hands onboard, additionally twenty divers and the civilians - like you. So... here we are - four cabins, each with two beds, decide by yourself who sleeps where. I´ll come and get you in fifteen minutes."  
Shigeru wanted to leave but was stopped by Ritsuko.  
"Captain, when are we told what´s going on?"  
  
"Ah... The commander will surely tell you everything."  
Aoba smiled nervously and fled.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The cabins all were equipped with two beds, a table, two chairs and two lockers.  
The look from the porthole was anything but interesting.  
  
"And where shall I put my stuff?" Asuka asked, who was carrying a big suitcase, a full backpack and two large bags.  
  
"Rei, we are sharing a cabin!" Ritsuko decided.  
  
"Yes, Mom."  
There was a disappointed sound in Rei´s voice when she looked at the last cabin where Shinji just entered...  
  
  
***  
  
  
The bridge was a large oval room, walls and ceiling consisted of clear armored glass.  
  
The children and Ritsuko left the elevator and stepped onto a walkway overviewing the bridge.  
In the middle of the room sat a blackhaired woman in a single chair, wearing a white uniform.  
She turned towards the visitors.  
"I am Captain Deiko Tamakura, commanding officer of the PROMETHEUS. Welcome on board."  
  
Colonel Gendo Ikari, who had been talking to on of the operators, looked up and walked over to the stairs leading up to the walkway.  
  
"You are on time." somebody said behind the children.  
  
Not only Shinji twitched.  
  
Thomas Shigen stepped between them, addressing the Captain.  
"Are we ready?"  
  
"The PROMETHEUS is ready to leave the dock." Deiko replied. "We are just waiting for your orders, Commander."  
  
"Good... So, take to sea!"  
  
Deiko nodded, sitting down again and turning around with the chair to face the main screen of the bridge.  
"Navigator?"  
  
"Course calculated and programmed", one of the operators said.  
  
"Pilot?"  
  
"Ready."  
  
"Weapons?"  
  
Four operators confirmed the status of the ship´s weapons.  
  
Deiko smiled. With a fast movement she removed her glove. Her right hand was inside of some kind of exoskeletton, within the right arm of her chair was a handshaped depression, where she placed her hand.  
"Pilot, dive and follow the course!"  
  
"Confirmed, Sir!"  
  
Slowly the PROMETHEUS submerged.  
  
Gendo joined the others.  
"We are leaving the geosector now."  
  
"How, father?"  
  
"The geosector´s connected with the open sea via a row of caves. During the last years we did some widenings so that a ship of the PROMETHEUS´ size can use them to reach the geofront."  
  
"That sounds like it was a lot of work."  
  
"Yes, doctor Akagi, we´ve decided quite early to built NERV installations at several places instead at just one... at Osaka are the growing vats and the production units for the MAGIs..."   
  
"MAGI? You are using the systems develloped by my mother?"  
  
"Correct", the commander said. "The biocomputers are able to better calculate scenarios than an ordinary computer would be... we prefer to take risks as small as possible."  
He looked straight forward, didn´t met their gazes.  
"The geosector contains our training installations and the field testing center. But Antarctica´s the place where everything´s going to be decided."  
  
"We are following the internal radius vector now", one of the operators reported.  
  
"We have to be careful", Ikari explained. "The ship´s bigger with the cargo containers, we won´t be able to return into the geosector with all four EVA-units."  
  
"Can we make it?"  
  
Ikari looked terrified at his son.  
  
"The salvage of the EVAs shouldn´t be a problem according to the MAGI. They were built for extrem  
conditions, so the pressure in the deepth shouldn´t be a problem. The EntryPlugs are autarc and  
compareable to mini submarines." Thomas mumbled.  
  
"PROMETHEUS is on course. ETA: in about one hour." Captain Tamakura reported.  
  
"Shinji,... Rei, you should prepare yourselves."  
  
"Yes, Commander." Shinji nodded.  
  
"Come with me, I´ll show you where you can change."  
Gendo turned towards the elevator.  
  
Rei´s gaze was fixed onto the face of the one-eyed commander.  
He´s wearing a contact lense... something´s familiar on him...  
  
He noticed her gaze, looked her into the eyes.  
"Stage Two of Operation Fishingtour will begin with the PROMETHEUS´ arrival over the drop-point   
of the cargo-modules."  
  
  
************************************************************  
  
  
Next: 3 EVAs, 2 ships, 1 Gaghiel 


End file.
